A certain something there is about running up against the best player in the world, one of the best athletes on the planet, a player of such renown that billions of fans and all athletes who don uniforms and intentions to oppose him not only know his name, but also his game. A third rhyming word — fame — typically doesn’t have that much of an effect on professional athletes who’ve been trained and conditioned to measure and challenge what is real about a foe, not what is imagined or what is legend.
In this particular case, that first statement is true. The second one is not.
What is legendary, what is imagined about Lionel Messi is fact, not fiction. And it lives on in what happens in the present, not what has happened, what has been embellished upon, in the past.
That’s what Real Salt Lake will see firsthand on Wednesday night during its Major League Soccer season opener, facing a player more famous than Real’s entire franchise. They are playing Inter Miami on the pitch on the road, and that’s cool enough, but what they actually, more comprehensively, are doing adds a couple of layers to that quest: 1) They are sizing themselves up against not just the world’s best soccer player, but the world’s best-ever soccer player … that’s right, better than Pele, better than Maradona, better than Cristiano Ronaldo; 2) They will properly bow to the great one not by acquiescing to him, rather by trying to beat him. And that’s the way Messi would want it.
Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi holds his Ballon d'Or trophy before the team's club friendly soccer match against New York City FC, Friday, Nov. 10, 2023, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni said as much on Monday.
“This is my challenge to the group: The best way to respect people is to give 100 percent. [To] measure your quality against one of the best players in the world, you can’t do that if you’re fearful. … Make it a contest against the best.”
He added: “You want to show him that you’re of quality, too. It’ll be a great experience.”
Mastroeni knows this because he actually played against a younger Messi back in the day during a friendly match. He has pictures of that game, and in every picture, he said, “I’m grabbing onto his shirt. … He was far superior to me as a player.”
But the player-turned-coach wanted to positively remember the experience by doing everything he could, even in failing to measure up.
Back to the preeminence of the man from Rosario, Argentina.
Messi is 36 years old, and there may be a hint here or there of his age, but not much. His absence in games during a recent world exhibition tour stirred some controversy, but he claimed later that he was tending to an injury. Age sometimes contributes to such conditions.
No matter, if you’ve been smart and fortunate enough to watch Messi on the reg, there are observations you’ve made, conclusions you’ve drawn. The first description that comes to mind is … magical. Earlier in his career, Messi did remarkable things. But he didn’t just continue to do magical things, he did even more magical things.
It’d be easy on stops along the way to think, “This hombre can’t get any better.” But then, the hombre does get better. He’s expected to get better. But then, he gets better than the expected better. His career is marked by monumental victories, unmatched skill, and marked further by unbelievable goal scoring. On top of that, he makes his teammates better, too.
Argentina's Lionel Messi prepares to take a corner kick during a qualifying soccer match for the FIFA World Cup 2026 against Paraguay at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)
Have we overcooked any of the superlatives? No, we have not.
Ask any of RSL’s players. They know.
So what are they supposed to do with all of that? Defeat it, or at least honorably try, that’s what.
Mastroeni, as is his way, tore the cover off honesty regarding the whole notion of facing Messi, saying in so many words that there’s no reason to try to play down the significance of the challenge.
“It’s a little bit like the Generals against the Globetrotters,” he said. “We want to change the result, though.”
The Globetrotter reference is a double entendre in that Inter Miami is the much more star-studded team, and a team that has, as mentioned, traveled in recent weeks here, there, everywhere, playing far-flung exhibitions against teams in various countries. A number of those games were not stellar.
His advice to his players on how to alter the result goes like this: “Every time the ball moves, there’s a job for you to do. Internalizing that, you’re staying present, not thinking about who you’re playing against. You’re thinking about what my job is. … And then all the other stuff flies out the window, hopefully.
“It’s only human to fall victim to the magnitude of this game against the best player,” he said. “When your brain starts floating into, ‘Oh, we’re playing Messi’ …” the only option is to continue “controlling the controllables.”
What’s really controllable against Messi and Miami is yet to be determined. Either way, RSL’s “Generals” will see what they can do against the great player’s current team, against a player who has trotted around the globe, winning its Cup along the way.
