Inter Miami captain Lionel Messi has revealed the adaptation process he had to undergo after joining Major League Soccer (MLS), reflecting on the dramatically different levels of pressure which he was surprised to find in Florida.
Messi is a proud Rosario native but moved to Europe at the tender age of 13. After learning the ropes of competitive soccer at Barcelona, a club where success is a prerequisite rather than a target, the most decorated footballer of all time then joined perennial French champions Paris Saint-Germain.
Inter Miami don’t have quite the same standard for success. The franchise co-founded by David Beckham is three months older than his youngest son and had never come close to picking up a piece of silverware prior to Messi’s arrival in 2023. It took a period of adjustment, but the serial winner and his family have grown to savor the “more relaxed” atmosphere in Miami.
“We’re enjoying each day, and in a different way, because you enjoy it differently here, more relaxed, without so much pressure, without the obligation—although I always wanted to—to win and achieve all our goals,” Messi told .
“Obviously, we want to, but the pressure is different now, and that makes life more relaxed.
“We enjoy our family more, the kids, being able to come to training, being able to go to the games, spending much more time at home, coming home and not thinking so much about football, but thinking more about other things.
“And that, whether you like it or not, makes you live differently because it often happened to me that the results and the day-to-day grind would get to me, and well, sometimes I’d come home in a bad mood, and it was different. So we’re good here.”
