Messi told best pal Aguero about Miami after being sent MLS standings
‘We have to make the playoffs’: What Lionel Messi told best pal Sergio Aguero after being sent a screenshot of Inter Miami at the BOTTOM of MLS
- Lionel Messi announced Wednesday that he intends to join Inter Miami
- But the club faces an uphill battle to make the postseason even if he joins
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Lionel Messi’s move to Inter Miami has not yet been sealed, but his close friend and former teammate Sergio Aguero is already ribbing him over his future team’s performance this season.
Despite reaching the US Open Cup semifinals on Wednesday night, Miami has struggled in the league thus far through 16 games this MLS season.
The club is currently last in the Eastern Conference with just 15 points, and 11 losses to five wins.
And Aguero knows Messi will face a tough race to get Miami into the postseason, telling ESPN Argentina, ‘I spoke to Messi yesterday, I sent him a message with a screenshot of the Eastern Conference standings and I said: ‘Your team is behind! You have to move up to 8th/9th!’’
Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero celebrate Argentina winning the World Cup last year
The pair are close friends and were teammates on Argentina for years before Aguero retired
Inter Miami is owned by David Beckham, who also moved to MLS in blockbuster fashion, joining the LA Galaxy in the summer of 2007
‘Messi cracked up. He said, ‘We have to make the playoffs!’
Under the new playoff format in MLS, the top seven teams in each conference qualify for the first round of the playoffs, while the eighth and ninth seeds advance to a wild card play-in game.
Miami is currently six points back from ninth-place Charlotte FC, with a game in hand.
Messi’s Miami debut has been mooted for July 21 in the Leagues Cup vs. Liga MX side Cruz Azul, which would leave roughly a third of the MLS season left to play.
Miami has 12 league matches after its date with Cruz Azul.
Aguero, meanwhile, added he believed Messi was arriving in ‘mid July.’
Regardless of when the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner arrives, Messi’s arrival will be a landmark moment for MLS, who issued a statement Wednesday following the star’s confirmation of the move to Mundo Deportivo.
Sergio Busquets has reportedly held talks with Inter Miami and could join Messi in MLS
‘We are pleased that Lionel Messi has stated that he intends to join Inter Miami CF and Major League Soccer this summer,’ the league said.
‘Although work remains to finalize a formal agreement, we look forward to welcoming one of the greatest soccer players of all time to our League.’
And Miami could be welcoming more than just Messi this summer.
According to ESPN, the club has also held talks with his ex-Barcelona teammate Sergio Busquets about a move.
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