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.”
