FORT LAUDERDALE: Lionel Messi said Thursday he has rediscovered happiness since joining Inter Miami, describing his move to Major League Soccer as the “opposite” of his transfer from Barcelona to Paris St-Germain.

Messi, who has scored nine goals in six appearances since joining Miami, joined the MLS club after two seasons in France with PSG.

Speaking to local media for the first time since arriving in Miami, a smiling and relaxed Messi talked positively of his life in South Florida and contrasted it with his time in the French capital.

“As I said at the time, my departure to Paris was not something I wanted, it was not something I wanted to leave Barcelona and, so to speak, it was from one day to the next,” he said.

“And, well, I also had to get used to a place that was totally different from where I had been living all my life, both in terms of the city and in a sporting sense, and, well, it was difficult, but the opposite of what is happening to me now here,” he said.

The seven-times Ballon d’Or winner has the chance to win his first trophy when Miami take on Nashville on Saturday in the final of the Leagues Cup.

It would also be his club’s first triumph in just their third season of existence.

“It would be amazing, wouldn’t it? Both for me and for all the people who are fans of the club, for the club itself,” he said.

“We want to be a point of reference and winning a title would help a lot in that. It is a very young club, it has been around for a very short time, and to win our first title would be great for all of us,” he said.

Despite huge expectations and the hope that the Argentine World Cup winner will lead the sport to new heights in the United States, Messi said he was simply enjoying the game and his life.

“The truth is that I don’t think about all those things, I simply came here to play, to continue enjoying football, which is what I have liked all my life and I chose this place for that reason, above all things,” he said.

“I can tell you that I am very happy with the decision we made, not only for the game, for how it is going, but for my family, for how we live day by day, for how we enjoy the city, for this new experience and the reception of the people that was extraordinary from the first day, not only in Miami.

“I made two away trips with the team and the treatment of the people towards me was spectacular. So I am grateful and happy for the moment I am living and above all to be able to continue enjoying what I liked all my life, to play and to be able to do it in this way with joy,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2023