Lionel Messi has been spotted with a fresh trim in Miami before jetting off to Paris for Monday’s Ballon d’Or ceremony, as he’s set to win soccer’s most prestigious prize for a record eighth time.
The 36-year-old, World Cup champion posed for a selfie with his barber, Luis Andres Rivera, on Sunday, while showing off his new haircut with his hands in his pockets in Vice City on Sunday.
‘Dropping off the biggest [G.O.A.T] @leomessi off ready for tomorrow,’ Rivera shared on Instagram. ‘Special day where in the name of God he will win his [Ballon d’Or] number 8.
‘Thank you Leo for always trust me and for giving me the blessing of making possibly the biggest cut of my career.
‘IT WILL BE SEEN BY THE WORLD.’
Lionel Messi posed for a selfie in Miami with his barber (R) before leaving for Europe on Sunday
The 36-year-old, Argentina captain is predicted to win his eighth Ballon d’Or in Paris, Monday
Earlier on Sunday, Messi was seen relaxing in Naples, Florida with his wife, Antonela, and his ex-Navy SEAL bodyguard, without their three children, Mateo, 10, Thiago, 7, and Ciro, 5.
Nobody else has won more than five of Messi’ seven Ballon d’Or’s throughout history.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said earlier this month that his top player, Erling Haaland, and Messi both deserve the trophy.
‘I always said that the Ballon d’Or had to be of two sections – one for Messi and one for the others,’ said Guardiola, who coached Messi with Barcelona.
It’ll be Messi’s 14th time finishing in the top three of the balloting, extending another record. He won it while playing for Barcelona, he won it while playing Paris Saint-Germain and now he’ll likely win it while playing for Inter Miami in what would mark the first instance of an MLS player getting such recognition.
‘Playing with him on the pitch and sharing moments together is a joy,’ said Jordi Alba, a longtime Messi teammate who joined him with Inter Miami as well.
Nobody other player has won more than five of Messi’ seven Ballon d’Or’s throughout history
The first season – first half-season, really – for Messi in Miami was a resounding success in many way, a failure in one other. The club won its first trophy, with Messi leading the way to the Leagues Cup championship (and even though he was wearing the captain’s armband, in a nod to that humility teammates speak of, he had Yedlin, the previous captain, hoist that trophy).
Attendance skyrocketed, Inter Miami’s footprint on soccer’s social media space skyrocketed, viewership on Apple TV was believed to soar and Messi’s No. 10 jersey became the hottest seller in MLS.
He’s making somewhere between $50million and $60million per season with Inter Miami, and the revenue streams are making that possible. (Season-ticket prices for 2024 are also much higher, to the chagrin of many fans.)
But injuries, wear and tear all took a toll, probably exacerbated by Inter Miami having to play so many matches in Leagues Cup. (‘It was very hard for us, playing every three days, with travel, with training,’ Messi said.)
A leg injury forced Messi to miss much of the late-season team’s MLS slate and the club missed the league playoffs by a wide margin, though in fairness, it was well out of the playoff picture before Messi arrived in July.
They’re already prepping for 2024 now, set to begin training for a pair of early November exhibitions in China. And when the calendar flips to a new year, Inter Miami will be expected to win every trophy it competes for – MLS Cup, Leagues Cup, the U.S. Open Cup and the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
‘I’ll enjoy the holidays in Argentina, the first time I’ll have a lot of fun in December, in peace with my people,’ Messi told reporters after an Argentina match earlier this month. ‘And then I will come back again, preseason, start from scratch and prepare for the best possible outcomes as always.’
