Messi-mania is upon us.
After his unveiling event on Sunday and his first practice session on Tuesday, seven-time Ballon d’Or winner and all-time soccer great Lionel Messi will make his debut with MLS’ Inter Miami on Friday night when it takes on Mexican side Cruz Azul in the first game of the Leagues Cup at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
Tickets for Messi’s debut, which kicks off at 8 p.m. on Friday, are selling for several hundred dollars. But if you can’t make it to the stadium, you can watch the game on TV.
Messi’s debut will be available for streaming on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. The Inter Miami-Cruz Azul game also will be broadcast on Univision.
Apple signed a 10-year broadcasting deal with MLS before this season, making every game in the league’s season and the Leagues Cup available to subscribers with no blackouts. Messi’s contract includes a share of broadcasting revenue from the league’s deal with Apple.
Apple and MLS announced that Inter Miami games will have “enhanced production” now that Messi and former Barcelona teammates Jordia Alba and Sergio Busquets have joined the team. The new production will include 18 cameras, a Steadicam, four slow-motion cameras, a Skycam, a drone, sideline reporters in both Spanish and English, a pregame show on-site and a postgame show.
Messi, Busquets and Alba join Inter Miami at a precarious time for the club. Miami has not won an MLS match since May 13 (it did win two matches in the U.S. Open Cup — a separate tournament — during that span), and it is in last place in the Eastern Conference with a 5-14-3 record.
Miami is coming off a 3-0 loss to St. Louis City SC on Saturday. New manager Tata Martino made his Miami debut in the defeat.
The Leagues Cup, which features every club from MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX, offers Inter Miami a chance to win a trophy in Messi’s debut season.
Miami faces Cruz Azul first. The Mexican side is 0-3-0 in the fledgling Liga MX Apertura season, which began on July 1. In the league’s Clausura competition, which ran from January through June, Cruz Azul finished in eighth place with a 7-7-3 record.
After facing Cruz Azul on Friday, Inter Miami hosts MLS’ Atlanta United on Tuesday. Atlanta is 9-7-8 this season and is in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
