Lionel Messi continued his illustrious career by scoring as Inter Miami beat Cavalier FC 2-0 in the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions Cup qualifier in Kingston, Jamaica.
This is the first time the Argentine superstar has set foot in this Caribbean country to compete, adding a new destination to his massive football map: 48 countries and 179 cities worldwide.
Messi has scored 853 goals in 1,087 club and international appearances. From a 13-year-old struggling with homesickness when he left Rosario for Barcelona, he has become a global icon, conquering six continents with his tireless stride (the Americas are divided into two football confederations, so they count as two continents in football terms). Although Antarctica remains a distant dream due to logistical difficulties, a trip to Kansas City last month in -9°C temperatures showed his remarkable adaptability.
Messi’s international career started inauspiciously. His first senior game outside Spain was a 2-0 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk in December 2004. Eight months later, his Argentina debut in Budapest, Hungary, was a bitter memory as he was sent off after just two minutes for an elbow, leaving him in tears of frustration at the age of 18. But things have changed since then.
2006 marked a turning point. Messi scored his first goal outside Spain in a friendly against Croatia in Basel, Switzerland, followed by a World Cup goal in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and his first European club goal against Werder Bremen in the Champions League. Europe has since become his main playground, where he has scored 704 goals and won 591 games in 778 for Barcelona and 75 for Paris Saint-Germain, bringing home 12 league titles.
Four Champions League titles were the pinnacle of Messi’s club career in Europe, although those victories did not always come in places where he was consistently dominant. In Italy, he won just five of his 15 games, with two memorable moments: a header in a 2-0 win over Manchester United in the 2009 final in Rome and a lacklustre friendly against Angola. In England, he lifted the trophy at Wembley in 2011, scoring in a 3-1 win over Manchester United, but also suffered a 4-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield in 2019 – the biggest shock of his club career. His final trophy came in Berlin in 2015, when Barcelona beat Juventus 3-1.
Despite his great success in Europe, Messi’s greatest moment came in an Argentina shirt. In December 2022, he lifted the World Cup in Lusail (Qatar) after a thrilling penalty shootout victory over France, ending a long journey to find the greatest glory of his career. Messi’s value to Argentina is highly valued, with each friendly match he participates in reportedly worth $5 million, taking him everywhere from Australia, China, India to Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Moving to the United States to join Inter Miami, Messi quickly asserted his class with nearly a goal per game. He has played in 17 cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and now Kingston, Jamaica. This morning’s 2-0 victory over Cavalier FC was not only a step forward for Inter Miami in the regional tournament, but also a new milestone in the journey to conquer the world for Messi – a legend who never ceases to amaze fans.
