At the age of 37, Lionel Messi is always an attraction. The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner expresses all his talent in the jersey of Inter Miami, in Major League Soccer. In Florida, Messi recreated a little cocoon comparable to the one he had in Barcelona, with several former friends known in Spain.
Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba all play with Messi on the other side of the Atlantic. But Messi also works with a coach he worked with at Barça and with the Argentina team: Javier Mascherano. Asked about his relationship with La Pulga, the latter did not deny that his star benefited from preferential treatment.
“I’m not going to deny that our relationship is one of friendship”
“ The relationship I have with Lionel Messi is something I have never tried to hide, Mascherano said at a press conference. I’m not going to deny that our relationship is one of friendship because of all the years we’ve played together and because we’ve known each other for a very long time. As for how decisions are made, what methodology is used, I have no idea. You have to ask the people who make the decisions. I’m happy to be here, very excited and obviously very eager to show what I’m worth“.
Mascherano also mentioned the other ex-Barcelona players in his squad in Miami. “ It’s obvious that I don’t just have a relationship with Leo. There are three other players in the team with whom I have played for a long time and with whom I have a very close relationship (Jordi Alba, Busquets and Suarez, editor’s note). That’s something I’m not going to deny. I’m not going to go into the locker room and pretend we’re not friends. During the Olympics, I had to coach Otamendi, who is a friend, and it was no problem. We have to share things“, concluded the former coach of the Argentina Olympic team.
