Inter Miami were this weekend held 2-2 at home to the Colorado Rapids as Lionel Messi returned to MLS action after almost a month out.
The Herons captain had been dealing with a hamstring injury that had kept Messi on the sideline for some time, with Inter Miami’s form suffering as a result.
Yet the Argentine international was back in action on Saturday, with Messi scoring a well-finished goal in the second half as Inter Miami threw away a 2-1 lead to draw against the Colorado Rapids.
Colorado Rapids aim dig at Inter Miami after MLS announcement
With that goal, Messi’s performance was enough to earn the Inter Miami star in MLS’s Team of the Week, which this season has been littered with players from the Florida franchise.
And as you can expect, the Colorado Rapids weren’t best pleased on Twitter to see Messi named in the XI ahead of the likes of Cole Bassett, the player who scored the equalizing goal for the Denver franchise.
Indeed, given how impressive the visitor’s result was against Inter Miami, there’s good reason for the Colorado Rapids to be annoyed at this announcement from MLS.
Yet what many franchises are now learning is Messi is a special case when it comes to these things, given how big the Argentine now is for MLS as a global brand.
MLS are milking Lionel Messi as much as everyone expected
A reasonable argument could be made that Messi is in the top ten of most famous people on the planet, with anyone who knows anything about soccer aware of the Argentine.
And for MLS, this makes Messi the perfect player to advertise and to milk for global attention, something that is only going to ramp up in the coming years.
Indeed, Messi has a star power few people on the planet possess, and MLS and Inter Miami will do all they can to use this to their advantage.