Inter Miami welcome back Lionel Messi after winning his eighth Ballon d’Or

Inter Miami and the whole of MLS are celebrating the recent men’s Ballon d’Or won by Lionel Messi. Despite the fact that the Florida team is already on vacation after a disappointing end to the domestic campaign, the ceremony in Paris brought with it total joy in the Herons’ circle after Messi brought home the prestigious award for the 8th time in his career.

In true fashion, immediately after being announced as the winner of the Ballon d’Or, Messi returned to Miami to report to training while it is decided whether or not the tour will take place in China. The trip is at risk of being cancelled due to various issues and complications: late last week it was confirmed that the venue for one of the games had been changed by thousands of miles and there is seemingly a lot of confusion and chaos regarding the ticketing information and availability.

On the return flight to the United States, Messi was accompanied by Jorge Mas and David Beckham, owners of Inter Miami, as well as his personal bodyguard Yasine Cheuko, who once again acted as the shadow of the Argentine.

On Tuesday morning Messi reported to the Inter Miami training ground facilities where he was given a warm welcome by the squad, who congratulated him on winning the Ballon d’Or with a guard of honour.

Through social media, Inter Miami shared images of welcoming Messi this morning and accompanied the message with the phrase “Welcome home, winner”.

After winning the award, Messi spoke about his rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as his thoughts on the trophy: “The truth is that I stopped thinking about the Ballon d’Or a long time ago. I said before that it was never a priority for me, and it’s much less of one now after having achieved everything in my career and at this stage of my life. I think this will be my last Ballon d’Or and I am happy to have achieved everything I achieved and to be the player who has eight Ballon d’Ors. I am happy.”