Lionel Messi’s controversial celebration in a friendly match

Sunday January 19 in the morning, Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami played a friendly match against the Mexican club Club America, the first in preparation before a new MLS season for the Floridians. If David Beckham’s club won on penalties (3-2), it was an image of the seven-time Ballon d’Or that got people talking. Just after one of the goals scored by Miami, the Argentine star presented himself in front of the kop of Mexican supporters, and ostensibly showed his name on the jersey.

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Lionel Messi then turned around, and mimed the number three with his hands several times, three like the number of World Cups won by Argentina in its history (1978, 1986, 2022). A reaction of restraint which went badly on the Mexican side, where the Americans saw it as a form of «trashtalking» common across the Atlantic. Inter Miami will then begin a preparation tour in South America, before starting their season against New York City.