MIAMI — It was all so bombastically overblown, you half-expected Lionel Messi to materialize from above the stadium and levitate slowly earthward in a flowing robe toward the adoring crowd — not with trickery or on the ropes of a parachute but because he is Messi, super-being among mortals, magician, G.O.A.T. of G.O.A.T.s.
(An epic rainstorm of Biblical proportion fell on the place Sunday evening before his grand introduction and drenched arriving worshipers. Messi could have made a phone call or waved it off with a sweep of his hand, but didn’t want to show off.)
“Tonight we’re doing this Miami-style in the rain,” said Inter Miami part-owner Jorge Mas. “This is holy water! Tonight is a gift and a celebration.”
The party featured music, video tributes and fireworks. Flags waved all over the stadium. Banners with Messi’s likeness or number, 10. Pink Messi jerseys, everywhere. The vertical blue stripes of Argentina dotting the crowd. Messi chants erupted, though the star himself spoke but briefly, thanking the club and South Florida fans and calling his new team “family.”
There wasn’t nearly enough Messi in the night unveiling him, but fans didn’t seem too bothered. He is theirs for two-plus years.
Perhaps most impressive, the nearly two hours of torrential rain Sunday dissuaded very few from staying. Though lighter rain continued, the stadium was close to packed, and swayed with electricity. Imagine on Friday night for Messi’s actual debut on the pitch as Inter Miami hosts Mexico’s Cruz Azul in a Leagues Cup match?
Tickets, pre-Messi, were $40 and you couldn’t give them away. Now they are going for more than $1,000 each.
We have known this man, known his name, watched from afar, recognized the greatness, for 20 years. He was the beyond-superstar who always belonged to the world. Now he is ours.
Inter Miami called the welcoming ceremony “The Presentation,” or “La PresentaSion,” the S capitalized to convey Si — as in Yes! But the official name for this was “The Unveil,” as if they were reverently lifting a velvet cloth to reveal a priceless Renaissance painting.
Maybe they were.
That’s the thing about Messi. Any description of him feels like gross hyperbole, yet also feels about right. And maybe too little.
Messi here makes Miami “Messiami.”
He is so revered that the first five letters of a certain word seem almost prescient:
Messiah.
Huge murals of Messi have popped up across Miami and Wynwood, artists moved to immortalize their hero and fittingly make it larger than life.
The Unveil happened (after the rain mostly let up) with pomp and ceremony Sunday night at DRV PNK Stadium, Inter Miami’s temporary home in Fort Lauderdale, which seats 18,000, is being modestly expanded and still will be frightfully small for this futbol god who astonishingly has signed to play here in Major League Soccer through 2025. The new Freedom Park stadium being built in Miami also will be too small for Messimania.
This guy could fill Hard Rock Stadium quicker than the Dolphins do. Messi would draw a crowd of 20,000 to watch him shop for canned vegetables at Publix. (“imira, Leo ha elegido el maíz!”)
Lionel Messi signing to play in a glorified high school stadium in a suburb of Miami? Imagine Taylor Swift performing at an Elks Lodge. That Messi — recently minted World Cup champion, seven-time Ballon d’Or winner as world player of the year — agreed to join the worst team in MLS, one now on an 11-match winless streak, takes the flabbergasting nature of all of this even further.
It remains unbelievable, even as we cannot but believe it.
There is precedent for this, sort of. A brief chronology:
In 1975 the Brazilian legend Pele’ comes to America to end his career in the old NASL with the New York Cosmos. Seismic, but even Pele’ could not save that league from folding. Messi coming to America is bigger because soccer is bigger here now ... but not as big as Messi will make it.
In 1987 Pope John Paul makes the only Papal visit ever to Miami. (Uh-oh, he’s doing it. He’s comparing Messi coming to Miami to the Pope! Blasphemy!) No, but to soccer devotees, let alone Argentinians, Messi is a deity of sorts. I spoke to a couple who flew here from New York for Sunday’s event and the woman began weeping when describing what Messi playing in the U.S. meant to her.
In 2007 the Englishman David Beckham — now the Inter Miami part-owner whose three years of perseverance made Messi to Miami happen — came from Real Madrid to MLS and the L.A. Galaxy. That was huge. But it wasn’t this. Beckham was great. But he wasn’t Messi.
In 2010 LeBron James came to Miami and the Heat. There was even the big, bombastic intro event like Sunday’s. But this is bigger. It is bigger because it is bigger beyond this region, beyond this league, beyond our borders. In Europe, South America, Latin America, across the continents — this resonates, echoes and ripples everywhere.
The Women’s World Cup begins in a few days. Right now, Messi-to-Miami is bigger.
Welcome to Messiami.
