Lionel Messi is back on top of the world after this week’s international masterclass with Argentina, with the Inter Miami forward in immense form.
The 37-year-old superstar heads back to Florida after one of his best performances of 2024 as Messi scored a hat-trick and assisted two more goals in a 6-0 win for Argentina against Bolivia, with the Inter Miami captain looking like his former self.
With the MLS play-offs on the horizon, Messi has hit peak form at the perfect time for Inter Miami, who could now go all the way in the post-season if the Argentine talisman can remain fit and healthy in the final weeks of the season.
Yet Messi has now admitted that Inter Miami did something earlier this year that he wasn’t a fan of.
Messi criticizes Inter Miami’s worldwide pre-season tour
Speaking to TyC Sports, Messi revealed that he didn’t enjoy pre-season with Inter Miami this year as the Herons went on a worldwide tour to countries like Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Japan, where the Argentine was injured and rusty throughout the entire trip.
Messi said when asked about his fitness and his Argentina future: “The truth is that I haven’t set a date or a deadline [on retiring from international duty], I just want to enjoy all this. I’m excited to be here and feel the affection of the people because I know that these could be the last games.
“Now I have to face the end of the season and start the next year with a good pre-season. This year I didn’t have one because we had a lot of travelling from one place to another, which was what the club needed but it wasn’t a good pre-season.
“I was thinking a lot about the Copa America and that’s why I took too much care of myself, which made my injuries worse. I have to finish the year well and start preparing for the new year, I need to take it step by step and continue enjoying it day by day.”
Messi right to address poorly-planned pre-season tour
Inter Miami were within their right to take the squad on a worldwide tour for pre-season given their immense global reach with Messi, Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets in their ranks.
Yet as Messi has now said, the tour did little to prepare Inter Miami for the 2024 MLS season, one that the Herons have got through mainly off the back of their deep roster and the management of Tata Martino.
Heading into 2025, Inter Miami will be wise to the fact that the likes of Messi did not like a worldwide pre-season tour, and a more traditional off-season could benefit the aging superstar a lot more than another PR stunt.