Lionel Messi: Club World Cup expectations different with Miami - ESPN

Lionel Messi shared that he has different expectations with Inter Miami going into the 2025 Club World Cup than when competing previously with other teams, but that he remains eager to do well among the best teams in the world.

Messi has competed in previous iterations of the tournament, winning the 2009, 2011 and 2015 editions with Barcelona.

«Well, it's an interesting competition,» Messi told FIFA on Friday. «Having the chance to be part of it is exciting. The expectations I have are different to the ones I had when I played for other teams, but I'm eager and I look forward to competing against the best [teams] and doing well.»

The 2025 version of the tournament, being held across the United States, features an expansion to 32 teams for the first time. Inter Miami and Messi are set to kick off the competition against Egypt's Al Ahly on Saturday before confronting FC Porto of Portugal and Brazil's Palmeiras in the group stage.

In contrast to the long and rich histories of many of the other clubs competing in the FIFA competition, Miami only debuted in Major League Soccer in 2020.

«Like I said before, they have the best players in the world,» Messi added. «So it's a great opportunity to go up against them, and a really nice experience both for the players on the pitch and for the fans in the stands.»

For Saturday's opener, Miami will be without one of their players with previous Club World Cup experience in Messi's ex-Barcelona teammate Jordi Alba. Miami head coach Javier Mascherano confirmed Friday that Alba, Yannick Bright and Gonzalo Luján will all miss out through injury, though expressed hope that they could return for the second game against Porto on Thursday.

Mascherano also expressed frustration that Miami has