Florida [US], July 22 : Inter Miami head coach Gerardo Martino hailed Lionel Messi as the 'GOAT', labelling the Argentinian's debut for the Major League Soccer (MLS) outfit as a movie which has been seen before.
Messi marked his debut on a memorable note as the World Cup winner converted a free-kick in the final minutes of the game to pull off Inter Miami's first victory in almost two months against Cruz Azul on Saturday.
Martino was in awe of the Argentinian and while speaking to reporters as quoted by Goal.com, he said, "It’s a movie that we have seen before. It’s common for him, you know. It looks absolutely normal, but it’s not … we’re speaking about the GOAT."
In Inter Miami's League Cup encounter against Cruz Azul, midfielder Robert Taylor opened Miami's account in the final minutes of the first half. Uriel Antuna brought the game back on parity twenty minutes into the second half.
Messi came on as a substitute and stepped up to take a free kick to steal away the victory for his new club. This is not the first time Martino as a manager witnessed Messi executing such stuff.
Martino knows Messi quite well as he has managed him at both national and club levels - Argentina and Barcelona. He will now link up with the World Cup 2022 winner in Major League Soccer (MLS).
Martino has had the experience of coaching in America before. He has managed Atlanta United and received the 2018 MLS Coach of the Year award as well.
During Messi and Martino's time together at Barcelona, the duo won the Spanish Super Cup, but they failed to lift the prestigious La Liga or the Champions League trophy.
Inter Miami will face Atlanta United on Wednesday at DRV PNK Stadium.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor