Lionel Messi likely to make Inter Miami debut from the bench tonight

Lionel Messi will likely make his Inter Miami debut from the bench tonight.

The 36-year-old was unveiled by the MLS club last weekend and he has trained this week as he builds up fitness.

Sergio Busquets, who joined Miami earlier this week, is also expected to feature in the Leagues Cup match against Cruz Azul, but Messi’s other former Barcelona team-mate, Jordi Alba, who completed his own move on Thursday, will not be involved after becoming a father this week.

Messi’s debut has been highly anticipated since he announced in early June that he had decided to move to MLS following his Paris Saint-Germain exit, despite interest from Barcelona and Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal.

The price of tickets to see Messi’s first match for Inter Miami have shot up since the announcement of his transfer. Prices of re-sale tickets for Wednesday’s match against Cruz Azul range from $200 to $5,000.

Messi in Miami — read more on The Athletic…

Inside the Lionel Messi to Inter Miami deal The evolution of the greatest footballer of all time Messi’s parallels with Pele’s Cosmos debut

Messi completed his move to Inter Miami earlier this month and signed a contract for two-and-a-half seasons, with an option to extend for a further year in the 2026 season.

He has joined up with former boss Tata Martino at the club following his appointment as head coach in June.

Messi took part in his first training session in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, alongside Busquets.

The Making of Messi: A special audio series by The Athletic

To mark Messi’s move to Miami, we’ve created a special three-part audio series titled ‘The Making of Messi’ telling the journey of how all roads ended up pointing to Florida.

As well as his on-field ups and downs, we chart his complex relationship with his country Argentina and explain the nuances of the unique deal that brought him to Miami — from equity to shirt sales to Saudi Arabia.

It features James Horncastle at his lyrical best, Michael Cox with his unrivalled tactical insight and Felipe Cardenas and Paul Tenorio’s local expertise as we get to the heart of what makes Messi tick on and off the pitch.

You can listen to ‘The Making of Messi’ in its entirety for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for that title or The Athletic’s documentary feed ‘Go Deeper’.

How can I watch Inter Miami matches on TV/streaming?

All Inter Miami matches will be available to stream worldwide (with some exceptions) through Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass subscription service.  In the U.S., some matches will also be broadcast on Fox/FS1/Fox Deportes and Leagues Cup matches will be available on Univision/Unimas/TUDN.

For Inter Miami’s first two Leagues Cup matches, Season Pass will feature “an enhanced production” that includes “18 cameras, Steadicam, four super slow-motion cameras, Skycam, a drone, sideline reporters in Spanish and English, a dedicated one-hour pregame show on site with features, interviews and expert analysis, and a postgame show to wrap things up.”

Why did Messi’s deal take so long to complete?

Analysis by Paul Tenorio, Pablo Maurer and Tom Bogert

Due to MLS’s single-entity structure, players sign contracts with the league, not individual teams.

But unlike normal MLS contracts, Messi’s has not been a simple matter. For a legendary player and a potentially league-altering signing, MLS and Inter Miami got creative with compensation to ensure he wasn’t lured to Saudi Arabia.

Messi’s contract includes the option to purchase an equity stake in Inter Miami, and part of the deal also necessitates discussions with Apple regarding revenue share on new subscriptions for the MLS Season Pass service. A source briefed on the negotiations said the Apple deal will be based on revenue driven by new international subscribers.

There has also been the structure of the compensation itself, the tax implications of how the contract is drawn up, as well as things like marketing and image rights. Those negotiations go down to granular levels, like which entities own rights to Messi’s name and the No. 10 for use on different products, for example.

How much is Messi earning and who is paying it?

Messi’s deal is worth around $50-60 million annually, though that includes the value of his equity in Inter Miami, which will activate after his time with the club.

Additionally, Messi will receive additional income through MLS partners.

He’ll get some portion of new MLS Season Pass subscriptions on Apple TV, as well as agreements for compensation from Adidas (who is his long-time sponsor and kit manufacturers for MLS and all 29 clubs) and Fanatics.

The Adidas and Apple portions of the deal are functionally separate from the base salary that he’ll make just as a player in MLS. The MLS Players’ Association will release salary details for all players later this year, as it did a few months ago. Messi’s number will be eagerly anticipated.

All parties see the deal as a boon; Apple and MLS signed a 10-year, $2.5billion agreement this spring. Apple also revealed a four-part docuseries chronicling Messi’s five World Cup appearances would stream on Apple TV+.

Adidas, meanwhile, has partnered with MLS since the league’s inception in 1996. The two sides renewed their partnership earlier this year, signing a six-year, $830million extension that runs through 2030. The German manufacturer supplies kits to all 29 MLS teams and also designs the league’s official match ball and is the league’s official footwear sponsor.

Messi himself has a long-standing relationship with Adidas, which started in 2006. In 2017, he signed a lifetime footwear sponsorship deal with the company.

(Photo: Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)