City SC happy to play against Messi, happier to beat him

Lionel Messi hasn’t been in America even a year yet, but he’s already changed soccer here.

In just about every category, from ticket sales to TV subscriptions sold to sponsors for the league, the Major League Soccer is in a better place than it was before Messi arrived. He’s raised the profile of MLS, and he’s given the league a legitimacy around the world that will raise its level of talent. Because of Messi, the league is expected to revise some of its salary-cap rules this summer to make it easier to acquire players, and more changes are expected.

And his arrival has turned Inter Miami, literally, from the worst team in the league to the best. Messi may be three weeks away from turning 37 years old, but he’s still doing the things that made him a superstar with Spanish club Barcelona and Argentina’s national team, which he led to the World Cup championship in 2022.

He had five assists and six goal contributions in a recent game, both MLS records. He leads the league in goal contributions (goals plus assists) with 23 (11 goals, 12 assists) in 11 games. And his arrival was the incentive for a group of former Barcelona teammates, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Luis Suarez, to move to South Florida and sign with the team. The club leads the league in points, goals scored and goal differential.

“Miami has done a lot of really good transfers,” City SC goalkeeper Roman Burki said at the start of the season. “It’s exciting for the league. I think it’s also something that will bring more attention to the league, the league will grow even faster. It’s just a good thing. And I would say for a lot of young players who are playing in this league here, it’s going to be an opportunity to see what it really means to play against Messi, and maybe sometimes it looks easier on television than it actually is to defend against him.”

City SC will get that test Saturday, when it faces Inter Miami in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Burki is the only player on the team to have played Messi, facing him twice in UEFA Champions League group play in 2019-20. Messi scored a goal on Burki in a 3-1 win and came off the bench in the other game, a 0-0 tie.

Now, a young City SC team gets that chance to see him up close.

“It’s a great challenge,” midfielder Chris Durkin said. “I’m really, really excited for it, to be able to play against one of the best ever. You’re not going to do that every day. I’m really excited, and I think everybody else is, too. I think it’s a game where we have not a whole lot to lose coming into it, and I think we can really get something out of it. So I’m really excited for it. And it’s about how we can frustrate not only him but all the other talents around him as well.”

“It’s a tall task,” said defender Tim Parker, “but it’s something that hopefully we have pride about. I think it’s a moment for us to be brave about it. Don’t shy away from the opportunity and just kind of attack it. I think that’s going to be our mindset. Hopefully we’re able to fight fire with fire.”

City SC coach Bradley Carnell saw his share of big names when he played in the German Bundesliga, though Messi may be in a class of one.

“As a player, I always looked at it, when I stepped over the white line, there’s no names on shirts, and I think that’s stood true to me and good for me throughout my career,” he said. “So that’s been part of the messaging. I know he shows up when you least expect it, and I know he shows up when you haven’t seen him for 15 minutes. He makes big plays. The thing is, can we mitigate those plays and the players around him? So that’s always a thing to be taking caution of. He’s a good player, but they are a different team than they were a year ago as well. It’s not just his presence. There’s a plethora of all players with high caliber, high quality.”

A year ago, City SC was the last team to play Miami before Messi arrived, winning 3-0 at CityPark, and how much Messi plays Saturday is uncertain. He played all 90 minutes of Inter Miami’s game Wednesday, losing to Atlanta 3-1 in hot, humid conditions while City SC was off. Inter Miami is careful with its big star but has played Messi three times in eight days twice during his time there. Messi, along with Busquets and Suarez, didn’t make the trip for a game on artificial turf last Saturday in Vancouver, so his workload hasn’t been that high over the past two weeks.

That loss to Atlanta snapped a 10-game unbeaten streak for Miami, while Atlanta snapped a nine-game winless streak. That should effectively eliminate the thought of sneaking up on Inter Miami.

But one thing seems undeniable: If you’re a soccer player, the chance to play against Messi is something to welcome. But even better than saying you played against Messi would be to say you played against Messi and beat him.

“I would lie if I said it’s nothing that I look forward to,” defender Joakim Nilsson said. “It’s a player that you only see on television, but once you get there, the focus won’t be on watching him on the field, it will be to get those three points. That will be a fun thing to say afterward that you won against Messi and the rest of the Barca team.”

“No. 1, we don’t play against Messi and Busquets and others, we actually play against Miami,” said City SC sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel. “We don’t play for fun, we play to get three points. Treat it as the opportunity of a lifetime to shut down Messi, but don’t take it as an opportunity (to say), ‘Oh I want Messi’s shirt.’ That in my opinion is unprofessional. If he comes up afterward and gives you a shirt and says, ‘Hey, you were great,’ that’s the moment you want as a player.

“Stay true to what we are and don’t think for 95 minutes plus that you’re playing against your idol because if you idolize the person you play against, you will not win. You can have respect and you can take that as a special moment in your career, but take it as, ‘I want to fight, I want to beat that guy and I don’t idolize him.’”