(Buenos Aires) They probably would have preferred Barcelona, and secretly some might have dreamed of seeing him in La Liga Argentina. But for many in Buenos Aires, knowing Messi in Miami means that unlike Paris, he “will be treated well.”
The announcement, after days of intense speculation, that the Albiceleste captain is joining Florida raised a few questions.
Starting with the sporting level of Major League Soccer and what that could mean for Argentina’s number 10 who, at 36, has next year’s Copa America in sight and no said nothing about his longer-term intentions in selection.
But above all, the support for Messi’s choice, and the desire for him to be “happy”, dominated. “Leo, where you are going we will follow you!” If you’re happy, so are we. Starting today, Inter Miami has a new supporter! tweeted the president of the Argentine Federation (AFA), Claudio Tapia.
Because the whistles of the Parc des Princes addressed to the national hero with seven Ballons d’Or, with 102 goals in selection, were particularly badly spent in Argentina, a fortiori since the world title conquered in Qatar which made Messi enter the legend year bringing his country a long-awaited 3rd star.
“We knew he had to leave Paris, he should never have been so mistreated,” mused Sandra Oldani, a 60-year-old employee. “But after his successes and all the joys he’s given us, he deserves to go where he wants…we’re giving it to the world!” “, she says.
“I would have liked him to go to Barcelona, because you can feel that there people like him, and as they say, nothing like home. But especially anywhere else than at PSG, as they treated him,” said Matias Carrizo, a 26-year-old street vendor on the streets of Buenos Aires.
The press has shown itself on several occasions throughout the season incredulous at the whistles suffered in Paris by the one they consider to be the greatest. And again on Tuesday, a veteran and respected journalist sent an open letter “to [his] Parisian supporter friends”, according to him, he missed the subject of Messi.
“Guys, you have less sense than a reclusive monk. You had Messi, Mbappé and Neymar in the same team, and you kept complaining,” he wrote to them. “From the stand you boycotted a team that with a little more time could have been champions of everything […] Grow up, guys.”
Specialist journalists say they understand this choice, and underline, like Daniel Guiñazu, football specialist at the daily Pagina 12, the perfectly “reasonable decision of someone who wants to live the last years of his career, without the pressure of European football , where for 18 years he has won everything that can be won anyway.
And then there is the economic and contractual aspect, the contours of which we do not yet know, underlined the journalist, referring to information on a possible stake Messi in the Florida club. Without forgetting the “choice of life, rather than towards a Saudi Arabia which offered him 600 million but a culture which was not his”.
On the way from Paris to Miami, the marginal dream of those who still wonder at what age will Messi return to play at Newell’s Old Boys (the club of his childhood in Rosario, Editor’s note). At 40? 45 years old ? 50 years ? laughs Horacio del Prado, another famous name in sports journalism in Argentina.
Of course, one could have said to oneself that “Thinking of the Copa America 2024, Messi would play in a championship, or a team, more competitive”, underlines Hernan Cabrera, journalist specializing in Newell’s.
But football may not be entirely absent from the choice, with some specialized sites announcing the Argentinian Gerardo Martino, who was the coach of Albiceleste between 2014 and 2016, as the next coach of Inter Miami.
And above all, Messi, for services rendered, has all the rights or almost, as long as he reserves his flashes for the Albiceleste. “He already belongs to the whole world, although he is Argentinian. And for me, it’s enough for me that he stays in the selection, “comments Sandra Oldani.
