FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — Will we see a happy Lionel Messi or a vengeful one when he leads Inter Miami against his former team, Paris Saint-Germain, in their FIFA Club World Cup round of 16 match Sunday in Atlanta?
It’s been two years since Messi unceremoniously left Paris to join Inter Miami in the twilight of his legendary career, but it’s unclear if any residual feelings remain for the Argentine World Cup champion.
Messi’s two-year spell at PSG was complicated, particularly upon his return to Paris from the 2022 World Cup triumph – having led Argentina to victory over France in the final. Imagine having to live and work in the same country you just delivered heartbreak to. Fans voiced their displeasure with Messi, who was also suspended by the club in May 2023 for taking an unsanctioned trip to Saudi Arabia the day after a match.
“It’s clear that for us it’s better if he plays angry, because he’s one of those players who, when he has something on his mind, gives an extra effort,” Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said to ESPN about Messi, after the club’s 2-2 draw against Brazilian side Palmeiras that placed them into this knockout match against the reigning UEFA Champions League winners.
Messi was all business and locked in during Friday’s training session – two days before he’ll take center stage inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium at noon ET in perhaps most enticing matchup in this summer’s tournament.
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Messi smiled widely in photos he and his wife, Antonela Roccuzzo, shared on social media from his 38th birthday party this week. Messi’s parents, Jorge Messi and Celia Cuccittini, hugging him closely. A massive cake with five No. 10 jerseys for him, his wife, and their sons Thiago, Mateo and Ciro.
Thiago, the oldest at 12, missed out on the celebration. He’s with Inter Miami’s Under-13 team playing in the MIC Football Punta Cana tournament in the Dominican Republic — the same tournament his father played in with Barcelona when he was 16 in 2003.
Inter Miami is hopeful Messi, who is under contract through the rest of this MLS season, will re-sign for at least next year – when they open their new stadium at Miami Freedom Park. His adoring fans globally are also hopeful he plays with Argentina again in next year’s FIFA World Cup, hosted in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. But those decisions are for another day.
“I chose to come here. I wanted to come here. And it’s a decision we made with time. It wasn’t something we decided one day to the next. We are where we want to be. … That makes everything much easier and simpler,” Messi said during his only press conference with Inter Miami in August 2023.
“When I went to Paris, it wasn’t something I wanted. I didn’t want to leave Barcelona. In some ways, it was one day to the next. I had to adapt to somewhere completely different from where I lived all my life. But that’s totally different from my experience here.”
Messi joined his old Barcelona teammate Neymar, and French 2018 World Cup champion Kylian Mbappe at PSG from 2021-23, forming one of the best attacking trios soccer fans could ever dream about playing together.
The group won two French league titles, but couldn’t deliver in the Champions League, suffering back-to-back exits in the round of 16. Messi and Neymar left in 2023, and Mbappe left last year to join Real Madrid.
“At the end of the day, Leo wants to win every game like all the great players do,” Messi’s longtime teammate Jordi Alba said. “I know the feelings he has towards Barca, where we played together. I was not there with him at PSG, he was there for two years and only he knows what happened.”
The Club World Cup showdown comes weeks after PSG won the Champions League for the first time – dominating Inter Milan 5-0 in the May 31 final – led by a new cast of characters.
Désiré Doué scored twice in the final – the 19-year-old soon be a household name like 17-year-old Barcelona phenom Lamine Yamal. Ousmane Dembélé, one of the frontrunners for this year’s Ballon d’Or as the world’s best player, had two assists in the Champions League final but hasn’t played in the Club World Cup due to a quad injury.
‘It will be nice to meet Messi again. We spent two years together. There were many beautiful moments,” PSG defender Achraf Hakimi told reporters after a win against the Seattle Sounders. “But then, on the field, there are no friends. He will try to win and we will also try to win. We will give everything to try to pass to the next round.”
Another storyline: PSG is led by Luis Enrique, who coached Inter Miami’s former Barcelona tandem of Messi, Alba, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Mascherano from 2014-17. They won the Champions League in 2015 together.
Alba considered Enrique “the best coach in the world,” while Mascherano considers the Inter Miami-PSG match as a great test and honor against his former coach.
Inter Miami is the biggest underdog of any team in the Club World Cup round of 16: They have +1150 odds to beat PSG, the heavy favorite at -450, according to BETMGM.
It’s not entirely out of the realm: PSG did lose 1-0 to Brazilian club Botafogo in the biggest upset at the Club World Cup so far.
“This is not over for us yet. Beyond the face that we are going to face possibly the best team in Europe – the Champions League champions – we will try to go with the same seriousness and try to play a great game, and see what possibilities we have,” Mascherano said.
“If there is one thing this sport has shown us, in one game anything can happen. And who’s to say Sunday is not our day? Sometimes, it happens.”
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