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Messi Picks MLS's Inter Miami

A mural depicting Argentine football player Lionel Messi is pictured in Miami on June 7, 2023. (Photo by Giorgio Viera / AFP)
A mural depicting Argentine football player Lionel Messi is pictured in Miami on June 7, 2023. (Photo by Giorgio Viera / AFP)
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Messi Picks MLS's Inter Miami

A mural depicting Argentine football player Lionel Messi is pictured in Miami on June 7, 2023. (Photo by Giorgio Viera / AFP)
A mural depicting Argentine football player Lionel Messi is pictured in Miami on June 7, 2023. (Photo by Giorgio Viera / AFP)

Lionel Messi has pulled off his latest stunning feat: He is headed to Major League Soccer and joining Inter Miami.

After months — years, even — of speculation, Messi on Wednesday finally revealed his decision to join a Miami franchise that has been led by another global soccer icon, David Beckham, since its inception but has yet to make any real splashes on the field.

That likely will soon change. One of Inter Miami’s owners, Jorge Mas, tweeted out a photo of a darkly silhouetted Messi jersey shortly before the Argentinian great revealed his decision in interviews with Spanish news outlets Mundo Deportivo and Sport.

It was widely believed that Messi eventually would choose to play for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia.

But in the end, he made the call that surprised many. Messi is joining MLS. He said in the interviews Wednesday that some final details still need to be worked out, but that he has made the call to “continue my path” in Miami.

“After winning the World Cup and not being able to return to Barcelona, it was my turn to go to the league of the United States to live football in another way,” Messi said.

Messi’s next matches are likely to be exhibitions with Argentina against Australia on June 15 at Beijing and at Indonesia in Jakarta four days later — and then his Inter Miami debut figures to be sometime in July.

“We are pleased that Lionel Messi has stated that he intends to join Inter Miami and Major League Soccer this summer,” read a statement from MLS. “Although work remains to finalize a formal agreement, we look forward to welcoming one of the greatest soccer players of all time to our league.”

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner — the trophy given annually to the world's best player — makes his move after two years with Paris Saint-Germain. At 35, Messi has nothing left to prove in the game and filled the only significant unchecked box on his resume back in December by leading Argentina to the World Cup title.

Messi has more than 800 goals in his career for club and country, making him one of the greatest scorers in the sport’s history. In more than 17 years of representing Argentina on the international stage, he has scored 102 goals against 38 different national team opponents — 16 of those goals coming on US soil. He scored twice in last year’s World Cup final against France, a match that ended 3-3 with Argentina prevailing 4-2 on penalty kicks.

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Zheng Loses to No 97 Siegemund, Osaka Rallies to Advance at Australian Open

Germany's Laura Siegemund (L) shakes hands with China's Zheng Qinwen after the women's singles match on day four of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 15, 2025. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)
Germany's Laura Siegemund (L) shakes hands with China's Zheng Qinwen after the women's singles match on day four of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 15, 2025. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)
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Zheng Loses to No 97 Siegemund, Osaka Rallies to Advance at Australian Open

Germany's Laura Siegemund (L) shakes hands with China's Zheng Qinwen after the women's singles match on day four of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 15, 2025. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)
Germany's Laura Siegemund (L) shakes hands with China's Zheng Qinwen after the women's singles match on day four of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 15, 2025. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)

Distracted by a time penalty and unable to counteract No. 97-ranked Laura Siegemund's aggressive approach, Zheng Qinwen's loss in the second round Wednesday fell a long way short of last year's run to the Australian Open final.
Zheng lost the 2024 decider at Melbourne Park to Aryna Sabalenka and went on to win the Olympic gold medal in Paris and finish runner-up at the WTA Finals in a breakout season.
But her first tournament of the year ended in a 7-6 (3), 6-3 loss on John Cain Arena against 36-year-old Siegemund, who attacked from the first point and put Zheng off her game.
Zheng needed a change of shoes early in the second set, got a time warning on her serve from the chair umpire — she said she couldn't clearly see the clock — and was worried about some minor issues which sidelined her before the Australian Open.
“I feel maybe today is not my day. There’s a lot of details in the important points. I didn’t do the right choice,” The Associated Press quoted Zheng as saying.
Of a weak serve that bounced before the net, Zheng said the time warning from the umpire “obviously that one really distracted me from the match.”
“This is my fourth year in the tour, and never happen that to me.”
Both of last year's women's finalists were playing at the same time on nearby courts.
Sabalenka, the two-time defending champion, extended her run to 16 wins at Melbourne Park by winning the last five games to beat No. 54-ranked Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-3, 7-5.
Naomi Osaka, another two-time Australian Open champion, reached the third round of a major for the first time since 2022 when she weathered an early barrage from US Open semifinalist Karolina Muchova before rallying to win 1-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Osaka lost in the first round here last year to Caroline Garcia in her comeback from maternity leave but avenged that with a first-round victory over Garcia this week.
Osaka said she used a loss to Muchova at the US Open as motivation.
“She crushed me in the US Open when I had my best outfit ever,” Osaka joked in a post-match interview. “I was so disappointed. I was so mad. This was my little revenge.”
Osaka will next meet Belinda Bencic, the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist who is playing in her first major since the birth of her daughter, Bella, last year.
Also advancing were No. 7 Jessica Pegula, had a 6-4, 6-2 win over Elise Mertens, and 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva, the No. 14 seed who beat Moyuka Uchijima 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8).
The scoreline in Sabalenka's match didn't reflect the difficulty, with Bouzas Maneiro taking huge swipes at the ball in her Australian Open debut and dictating some of the points against the world No. 1-ranked player. Her serve let her down, with Sabalenka able to relieve some pressure on her own serve with five breaks.
No. 7 Jessica Pegula had a 6-4, 6-2 win over Elise Mertens to reach the third round, along with Belinda Bencic and 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva, the No. 14 seed who beat Moyuka Uchijima 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8).
Siegemund has never been past the third round in Australia, but is taking confidence from her big upset. Her only lapse was when she was broken serving for the first set. She recovered to dominate the tiebreaker, while Zheng remained too conservative in her tactics until right near the end.
“I knew I just had to play more than my best tennis. I had nothing to lose. I just told myself to swing free,” Siegemund said. Zheng is “an amazing player. One of the best players right now, but I know I can play well and I wanted to show that to myself.”
Third-seeded Carlos Alcaraz, aiming to add the Australian Open title to complete a set of all four major crowns, advanced 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Yoshihito Nishioka.
“The less time you spend on the court in the Grand Slams, especially at the beginning of the tournament, it’s gonna be better, especially physically,” Alcaraz said. “I just try to be focused on spending as less time as I can,” on court.