Lionel Messi love saga with boyhood club Newell's Old Boys

Lionel Messi is set to face the Argentine club

Inter Miami returns to the peace and quiet of Florida for one last test prior to the MLS season beginning, following a protracted global tour. The hopeful new campaign for Gerardo “Tata” Martino’s team against Real Salt Lake kicks off on February 21.

With just one game remaining, this one could be the most memorable for the Argentine sensation: Lionel Messi and Miami will take on his beloved Newell’s Old Boys from Rosario, Argentina.

A youngster who would go on to develop into a football hero was born in Rosario on June 24, 1987. Despite his early life, he was unable to make his first professional appearance in the city where he was raised.

Messi’s “dream” for Newell

Lionel Messi feels obligated to repay the city he vacations in and the place that provided him with everything because of this. Messi will never forget his dream of starring for La Lepra in the future.

Four days after Diego Armando Maradona passed away on November 29, 2020, Messi decided to honour the former champion of the world while still sporting the Barcelona uniform.

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“Personally there was always the idea, and even more so after having become world champion, of playing Argentine football. Ever since I started playing at Newell’s when I was little and going to the stadium, it was my dream to play there [for the first team],” the Argentine revealed in September 2023.

“When I was seven or eight years old, I remember going with my dad, my uncle and my brothers. We always went to the stadium. If it wasn’t a very complicated game that could end in trouble, like a Clásico, we would go whenever we could” he acknowledged in an interview with Jorge Valdano in February of last year.

“The night before the game I was with Antonela (Rocuzzo) and I told her: ‘I have to do something for [Maradona]…’ I have something of a museum with trophies and t-shirts upstairs, so I went to see what there was. I was looking for a shirt from the National Team or something from him,” Messi admitted. When he scored his first goal after Maradona’s death, he remembered it with an emotional gesture, putting on the famous red and black shirt.

After discovering the Newell’s shirt that Maradona had worn in 1993, the Argentinean chose to honour the player by donning it. “I have no idea why it was present.

Messi said, “I didn’t even realise that I had it.” On Thursday, February 15, Inter Miami and Newell’s Old Boys will square off at the DRV PNK Stadium. The start of the game is set for 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT.

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