Messi flew to Toronto and he's taking pics with fans
Lionel Messi is officially in Toronto.
Now, whether the arguably greatest soccer player of all time will actually play in the city is another story, with Inter Miami set to take on Toronto FC in their penultimate regular season game on Saturday.
On Wednesday night, Miami wrapped up the MLS Supportersā Shield for the 2024 season, meaning they won the regular season crown as the top seed with the best record league-wide. Essentially, Miamiās remaining two regular season games have no bearing on their playoff seeding, giving the team the possibility of resting their star man.
But while his status for the game is up in the air, Messi himself touched down in the city and was spotted at a downtown hotel taking this photo with a fan named Njteh Mourad.
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Inter Miami themselves also shared a photo of Messi boarding the plane on Thursday, with the caption “Toronto soon” added at the end of the post.
Smile if you are a Supportersā Shield Champion š”ļøāØ
š« Toronto š pic.twitter.com/9khcddQl3E
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) October 3, 2024
Inter Miami held a training session on Friday at the University of Toronto’s Varsity Stadium. While it was not open to the public, an eagle-eyed fan spotted the squad on the field while in class, though it’s unclear if Messi (or other Miami stars like Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba or Sergio Busquets) was in attendance.
Inter Miami training at my daughterās college stadium in Toronto. Sheās excited to see Messi & Suarez. Sheās in class taking this pic but wants to sneak outš pic.twitter.com/ENDPqcSKbD
— Lila (@LilaL_Hrv) October 4, 2024
Meanwhile, Miami head coach Tata Martino has yet to decide whether Messi will be available for the match.
Tata Martino says the team will look into Lionel Messi's minutes before making any decision on tomorrow. It certainly sounds like rest is possible (and probably wise).
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) October 4, 2024
Tickets for the match have been selling for a decent chunk of change, with the cheapest pair currently going for $310 a piece on Ticketmaster as of press time.
Messi played in Montreal earlier this season but infamously did not make the trip to Vancouver, partially due to a condensed schedule and a long flight to and from Miami with a home game four days after the contest.
Kickoff is set for 4 pm ET at Toronto’s BMO Field.
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