Messi to MLS: Miami's superfans, stars ready for new icon - ESPN

MIAMI — The drive from Little Havana to South Beach captures the broad range of Miami's topographical landscape. Here I am on the elevated highway, like millions of frustrated Miamians during rush hour, as the MacArthur Causeway guides me over the city's districts.

From Brickell to the neighborhood of Overtown, I pass old and new construction sites. Luxury buildings sit above the water. Eventually, I reach Miami Beach and the Atlantic Ocean. In the skies, a combination of weather patterns dance together, completely contradicting each other's status. On one side, a storm is brewing, and on the other, clear blue skies. A contradiction. That's Miami.

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Back on the highway and I suddenly jump from my seat as I hear a scream from the driver's seat. «Look!» says Alejandro, the Colombian Uber driver, pointing toward the billboard with childlike giddiness. «There he is!» Indeed. There he is. Lionel Messi — Inter Miami's (and Major League Soccer's) record signing — in all his glory, with black and pink enriching the poster, welcoming him to South Florida.

«Bienvenido Leo,» says Alejandro, greeting the billboard as if he were talking about a family member coming to stay. In a way, he's not wrong.

The billboard is one of many symbols of hospitality for the Argentinian World Cup champion that adorn Miami. All over the city and toward Fort Lauderdale (where his new club's DRV PNK stadium is located), signs and murals have been surfacing since the announcement. Just this week, David Beckham joined Argentinian artist Maximiliano Bagnasco to complete his own work of art in the artistic district of Wynwood, where most of the public art work is based.

My favorite one, however, is by