After a lavish introduction as an Inter Miami player, Lionel Messi has begun working with his new teammates, and on Tuesday, he and Sergio Busquets participated in their first practice session together.

After several weeks of anticipation, Lionel Messi began his first practice as an Inter Miami player on Tuesday.

More than a month after initially deciding to join for the team co-owned by David Beckham, the legendary star from Argentina and Barcelona was introduced as a Major League Soccer player at an opulent ceremony on Sunday at Miami’s DRV PNK Stadium.

During a historic event in the history of the league, Messi, 36, greeted his new colleagues for the first time at the team’s training facility beneath the stadium.

With Inter focusing on the Leagues Cup, a match between American and Mexican sides, Messi will have to wait more than a month before making his MLS debut. The former Paris Saint-Germain star might make his debut on Friday against Cruz Azul. Tuesday’s second and final group game pits Inter against MLS rival Atlanta United, with the top two teams moving on to the next round.

Longtime friend Sergio Busquets and former Barça and Argentina manager Gerardo “Tata” Martino have joined Messi in Miami, but it was evident from their first session that Messi was still getting to know his new teammates.

The 35-year-old spent a lot of time with Josef Martinez, the team’s striker, running alongside him during the warm-up and stopping to talk to him again after the game. Messi, who is regarded as the best player of all time, will be fully aware of Inter’s difficulties with a young team as they currently sit last in the Eastern Conference.

Miami has one of the most inexperienced teams in the MLS, which definitely contributed to their subpar performance so far in 2023. However, they have two highly skilled and experienced players in Messi and Busquets.

Few things in football worth doing have yet to be done by Messi and Busquets, and their arrival will undoubtedly provide some steel and a significant improvement in quality.

The presence of an owner at the training facility is not always a positive thing and can be a sign that someone is going to lose their job, but Beckham’s presence at the session on Tuesday highlights the significance of Messi’s signing for the team.

Beckham welcomed a world superstar to the United States and was on hand in a clean white T-shirt and tan chinos to get a closer look at the Argentine master. Prior to Messi, Beckham was the biggest acquisition in the league’s history when he joined LA Galaxy, and he has gone full circle 15 years later.

The Messi effect

Messi’s first day with his new team was covered by 200 local and national media members crammed into Miami’s training facility, but there were other individuals observing from a distance.

In an example of the Messi effect, a helicopter circled the fields while allegedly gathering aerial footage. On a busy day, a few reporters will occasionally attend Inter’s open training sessions, but the team has recently found itself in the public eye on a global scale.