Lionel Messi played 29 games for Argentina at River Plate's Estadio Monumental and never lost one: 23 wins, six draws and 20 goals, according to ESPN. On Jan. 19, he goes back there with Inter Miami for a preseason friendly against River, and it will be the first club game of his career on Argentine soil.
A first, not a farewell
Both clubs announced the game on Friday. It's organized by COC Global, and ticket details are still to come. The occassion arrives barely three months after Messi's last game for Argentina, a 3-0 win over Benin at the Monumental on Oct. 6, when he scored the final goal from the penalty spot.
TyC Sports pointed out that Messi has taken part in farewell games in Argentina, for Juan Román Riquelme at La Bombonera and for Maxi Rodríguez in Rosario. He has never played in the country with Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain or Miami. He left Rosario as a boy and built his whole club career abroad.
The last time he saw River
This won't be Messi's first game against River. In the 2015 Club World Cup final in Yokohama, River's fans whistled him, and he opened the scoring in Barcelona's 3-0 win before Luis Suárez added two. ESPN counts only four games in Messi's career against Argentine clubs: Estudiantes in the 2009 Club World Cup final, River in 2015, Boca Juniors in the 2018 Joan Gamper Trophy, and Newell's Old Boys in a 1-1 preseason draw in Fort Lauderdale with Miami.
The rosters add another layer. Nicolás Otamendi, his longtime Argentina teammate, plays for River, along with Thiago Almada, Gonzalo Montiel and Ángel Correa. Miami bring Rodrigo De Paul, Luis Suárez and Casemiro.
Where Miami are now
The friendly comes during the preseason before MLS's Sprint Season. First, Miami have a title to defend. They open a best-of-three first-round series against Columbus next week, and Messi is a finalist for a third straight MVP award after winning the Golden Boot with 26 goals.
River's own situation is unsettled. They play Lanús in the Clausura round of 16 on Nov. 22, and interim coach Leonardo Ponzio may not be in charge by January. How warmly the Monumental greets a Miami shirt may depend on how that ends, but the man inside it has never lost there.
