MLS regular season ended
Lionel Messi ended his first season with Inter Miami CF in Major League Soccer with defeat. Led by the Argentine as captain, the team from Florida lost 0-1 (0-1) at Charlotte FC on Saturday (local time). It was already clear beforehand that Miami would not make it into the play-offs without Messi after a weak start to the season. The Colombian Kerwin Vargas took advantage of Inter’s defensive weakness to score the winning goal for Charlotte in the 13th minute.
Miami is one of eleven teams for which the season has ended at this point. Messi, the most valuable player in the league with a market value of 35 million euros, is missing from the play-offs, as are Sebastián Driussi (Austin FC), Riqui Puig (Los Angeles Galaxy) and Talles Magno (New York City FC), who are among the highest valued MLS professionals count. It’s also over for well-known players like Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi (both Toronto FC), Xherdan Shaqiri (Chicago Fire FC) or Douglas Costa and Chicharito (both Los Angeles Galaxy).
Even though Messi’s season is over, his impact since arriving in MLS in July is undeniable. Few things illustrate his exceptional position as much as his salary: the superstar earns $20.5 million (19.2 million euros) in Miami. Only three MLS teams pay their players more – added up for the entire squad. According to the players’ union, the two-and-a-half-year contract that the Argentine signed in the summer is worth a total of $150 million. Not included: sponsorship income.
Messi, Insigne, Shaqiri & Co.: The highest paid players in Major League Soccer
Sales of jerseys, tickets and streaming subscriptions fueled Messi’s signing enormously. For Inter Miami, the seven-time world footballer couldn’t conjure up the already unlikely qualification for the playoffs – but he made the team’s first title clear. In the final against Nashville SC, Miami won the Leagues Cup in the summer, Messi was top scorer and best player in the tournament with teams from the USA and Mexico.
In total, he scored eleven goals in 14 appearances for Miami. Recently he was ailing but hardly played in the MLS. Argentina’s 2-0 win against Peru in World Cup qualifying last Tuesday was his first full-length game since the beginning of September. Of the seven games without Messi, Miami only won one. At the beginning of November, Messi will probably go on a promotional tour with the team to China. There will then be two more international matches with Argentina before Messi is expected to take a longer vacation until preparation for the new MLS season begins in January.
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