New England Revolution

The Revolution's nightmarish 2024 season ended with a 6-2 away loss to Inter Miami on Saturday night. Lionel Messi made a relatively transient cameo (he got here within the 57th minute), but his presence unsurprisingly triggered an avalanche of goals and ended the 2-2 draw.

Four goals within the second half – three of which were scored by Messi – clearly gave Caleb Porter's side the end result of their loss on decider day.

Of course, the “decisions” New England faced on the league's annual final day were purely historical: The Revolution had already been eliminated from the playoffs and were just hoping to stop Miami from surpassing its 2021 regular season points record.

In the tip they failed as Messi and Co. overcame a multi-goal deficit with six unanswered goals. In the ultimate minutes, Miami scored circus-like goals seemingly for show, and the gang rejoiced at every further highlight from Messi.

The offseason is now upon us for the Revolution, closing the book on considered one of the worst seasons in club history (the loss, New England's twenty first of the yr, ties the team record for a single season).

Here are a couple of insights:

The game was a fitting farewell for a struggling team.

With the sport being played in Miami and particularly given the stakes – a victory that secured the very best regular season in league history – the Revolution were at all times able to tackle the role of the Washington Generals against Inter Miami's Harlem Globetrotters on Saturday night play.

At first, nevertheless, New England appeared to go off script when one other Argentine – Revolution winger Luca Langoni – scored in the primary 90 seconds:

Incredibly, New England wasn't done yet. Alhassan Yusuf (more on him in a moment) was once more central to the great play, cutting inside and finding winger Dylan Borrero alone within the box.

Borrero's finish was removed from perfect, however the ball fortunately wound its way through the legs of Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender:

After 34 minutes, it seemed as if the Revolution had saved all their luck for the ultimate game of the season. And it gave fans a transient moment of hope, perhaps dreaming of keeping the points record.

Still, this game was destined to be considered one of Revolution 2024's biggest successes: missed probabilities, poor defending (particularly on set pieces) and only a general lack of consistency throughout the sport.

Each of those traits, proven in New England's near-bottom-of-the-table performances this season, was on display one final time.

Facing a 2-0 deficit, Miami turned to its stars, with Luis Suarez scoring twice in quick succession and equalizing before halftime. Especially with the second goal, he was given far an excessive amount of space to receive the ball in midfield and switch towards the goal.

And within the second half, Messi's effort immediately led to Miami's breakthrough. His perfectly weighted shot brought Inter left-back Jordi Alba into play and allowed the Spaniard to cross for a cross from Benjamin Cremaschi.

Messi's subsequent trio of goals became increasingly impressive. Accordingly, New England gave the impression to be melting while Miami grew in importance with every goal. In the ultimate rating, a real masterpiece (with Suarez particularly providing a highlight-reel assist), the Revolution players hardly appeared to react.

And yet it was also a game of missed opportunities for the revolution. Despite a plethora of defensive errors, it must be noted that striker Giacomo Vrioni particularly had several clear probabilities that were missed.

“They could have easily scored six goals tonight,” Apple TV+ commentator and former Revolution scorer Taylor Twellman remarked across the seventieth minute in the course of the broadcast.

The combination of defensive errors and missed probabilities – plus a touch of poor midfield positioning – ensured it was an ideal encapsulation of the problematic 2024 revolution (which, fittingly, resulted in one other defeat).

An uncertain path forward.

The game ended with Miami scoring a series of elaborate goals, having fun with the glamor and elegance that accompanies any team with its former Barcelona contingent.

They scored for fun, with New England having little influence on the sport in the ultimate 20 minutes.

The query arises as to where precisely the revolution will go from here. It is obvious that the team management is now facing a crucial offseason. Some priorities stand out:

Clean up the defense: The Revolution had considered one of the worst defensive records in MLS history in 2024 with 74 goals. New England got here dangerously near breaking the record for worst league defense (a tie between the 2024 Earthquakes and 2019 FC Cincinnati with 75 goals allowed). There will probably be changes (probably within the centre-back grouping).

Fixing the front position: Vrioni's contract runs through the 2025 season, however the club must sign one other striker no matter what happens with the mercurial Designated Player. Vrioni hasn't shown nearly consistently enough what a winning MLS team needs from its center forward. Given that this was already an obvious problem within the preseason, a number of the blame for this must also lie with the front office.

Add a defensive midfielder: As was shown once more on Saturday in Miami, the midfield tandem of Matt Polster and Yusuf could also be unnecessary as each players naturally attack box-to-box. This often creates gaps between the defense and midfield – Suarez used the space for his second goal. Fixing this will probably be an interesting task for New England and can likely require the addition of a more disciplined, defensive centerfielder.

Yusuf looks like a high quality addition.

Aside from Langoni — one other truly quality player New England acquired during a difficult season — Yusuf stood out because the Revolution's most consistent impact player in the sport.

He led the team in touches and passes and ceaselessly appeared anywhere on the sector where his teammates needed him.

Most importantly, he was directly involved in each of New England's goals, including a good looking shot from Miami center back David Martínez within the lead-up to Borrero's admittedly fortunate finish.

In a lost season, Revolution fans can take some solace within the undeniable fact that the club managed to secure a couple of decent signings in 2024. Whether they will construct on the signing of players like Yusuf in 2025 stays to be seen, however the Nigerian's energy and quality appear to be a pleasant image for New England fans to concentrate on until next season.

First he sank to the bottom and grimaced. The game continued for a couple of seconds, then there was a collective gasp.

Lionel Messi was down. And Lionel Messi isn’t a player who goes down for no reason.

Argentina's playmaker and talisman clutched his right ankle. He had fallen on his own and there was no obvious kick to cause the injury, and he knew his night was over.

He took off his right shoe and stood up fastidiously. The physiotherapists asked him how he was, but they should have known. He shuffled to the sideline, each step slightly stab within the Argentinian heart. Then the board went up: Nicolas Gonzalez is coming, Messi goes.

Messi walked slowly to the bench and threw his boot on the bottom. He sank into his seat and buried his face in his hands. Leandro Paredes, his teammate, ruffled his hair but said nothing. What could he say?

A second or two later, the camera turned back to Messi, zooming in on probably the most famous face of football. And even of humanity. And Messi, the arch-stoic, could not contain his emotions.

The crowd chanted his name. Messi sobbed.

The tears were for the moment – Argentina needed them, they all the time do – however it was inconceivable to separate them from the larger context. Wherever Messi steps on this prolonged profession outro, he’s all the time accompanied by the unmistakable sense of an end.

Messi is 37. Earlier this week he confirmed that this is able to be his last edition of the competition. The mood within the Argentine camp suggests that it might be his last major tournament, period. He can be 38 when the following World Cup begins within the United States, Mexico and Canada, and he can be 39 in the course of the tournament.

Those limitless summer days of watching Messi romp across the football pitches of our souls? They could now be numbered.

Retirement isn’t a sexy prospect for any athlete. Athletes die twice, they are saying. Messi's incredible longevity – and sustained peak performance – have been an efficient safeguard against talk of retirement, but nobody can run perpetually. At some point, every little thing you do is the last time. Everything carries a heavy finality.

Messi clearly seems to have an inkling of what awaits him on the opposite side of the afterlife. “I'm a little scared that it's all over,” he told ESPN Argentina earlier this 12 months. “I try not to think about it. I try to enjoy it. I'm doing that even more now because I know there's not much time left.”

Here, on this stuffy, charged night at Hard Rock Stadium, he actually didn't expect to be denied a part of the balance. Sitting there on the bench, an ice pack on his swollen ankle and a yellow vest over his blue and white jersey, it was tempting to wonder what was occurring in Messi's head.

Maybe he just became a fan in that moment. Maybe the thought of ​​the team playing without him – a picture he would should get used to within the many years to come back – twisted his already knotted insides into recent, uncomfortable shapes.

After the match, Argentine head coach Lionel Scaloni said that Messi didn’t need to retire, but his injury made another option redundant.

“Leo has something that everyone should have,” Scaloni said. “He's the best in history and even with an ankle like that, he doesn't want to let go.

“It's not because he's selfish, it's because he doesn't need to disappoint his teammates. He was born for the pitch.”

At the end, there was at least some relief. When Lautaro Martinez scored the decisive goal four minutes before midnight in Miami, it was telling that most of the players did not gather around the goalscorer. No, Argentina's players rallied around Messi, their shining example.

“When we talk about players who have marked the history of football, we try to prolong their careers when we have the end in sight,” his coach at Inter Miami, Tata Martino, said recently. “I believe that Leo and his family are preparing for the end. It is coming for everyone.”

For Messi, it's not quite that point yet. He'll proceed playing within the MLS when his injury heals, and possibly even play his part in helping Argentina qualify for the World Cup, but this was the last episode of Messi Does Tournaments and one other stop on the solution to the top. The real end. The day when this absurd, magical, hilarious little imp of a footballer fades into the past tense.

“I'm lucky that I can do something that I'm passionate about,” Messi said within the Apple documentary about his American adventure. “I know these are my last years and I know that when I don't have this anymore, I'm going to miss it a lot because no matter how many things I find to do, nothing will be like this.”

Perhaps no more big finals. No more nights like this one, hard and glorious for his country. And so he cried long before the celebrations. It was comprehensible.

The napkin on which Lionel Messi's first Barcelona contract was informally written has been auctioned off.

Bonhams – a personal, London-based international auction house – is running the auction on behalf of Argentine player agent Horacio Gaggioli until May 17 with a starting price of £220,000 ($274.55,000).

The agreement was reached on December 14, 2000, when Barcelona director Carles Rexach was desperate for the club to sign the then 13-year-old Messi.

Messi had impressed during his two-week trial with Barcelona in September 2000, however the club was initially reluctant to sign such a young, non-European player.

Rexach was frightened that the Catalan club would miss out on signing Messi, who had returned to his Argentine hometown of Rosario.

Gaggioli said last 12 months that he informed Rexach in December 2000 that the teenager could be offered to other clubs, including Real Madrid, if they may not commit to signing Messi.

Rexach invited Gaggioli to dinner in Barcelona to make a final decision on Messi, but there was an issue: Rexach didn't have time to draft or print a contract, but needed the suitable signatures on a document that may later turn out to be legally binding.

His solution was to take a napkin and write down contract language, which was then signed by the relevant parties to signal a legal obligation.

The napkin read: “On December 14, 2000 in Barcelona and in the presence of Messrs. Minguella (agent Josep Maria) and Horacio (Gaggioli), Carles Rexach, technical secretary of the FCB, under his responsibility, despite the opinions of others who oppose are a commitment from Lionel Messi as long as the agreed fees are adhered to.”

Rexach signed the napkin alongside football agents Minguella – who has worked on several Barca deals prior to now, including Diego Maradona – and Gaggioli.

“This is one of the most exciting items I have ever dealt with,” said Ian Ehling, head of positive books and manuscripts at Bonhams New York. “Yes, it is a paper napkin, but it is the famous napkin that was at the beginning of Lionel Messi's career.

“It changed the life of Messi and the future of FC Barcelona and was instrumental in bringing some of football’s most glorious moments to billions of fans around the world.”

Years later, Gaggioli commented on the event, calling it a “wonderful moment.”

“This napkin broke the deadlock,” he added.

“My lawyers looked at it. Everything was written on the napkin: my name, his name, the date. It is notarized. It was a legal document.

“It will be a part of me for the rest of my life. The napkin will always be by my side. I live in Andorra and I kept the napkin in a safe in a bank.”

On Wednesday, Minguella told Catalunya Radio that the napkin had been lying in his office for years and that he had offered Barcelona the chance to display it within the club's museum.

He claims he has not received a response from Barcelona and can now ask lawyers to seek out out who the rightful owner of the napkin is and the way someone can prove that they’re the rightful owner of the napkin as a way to put it up on the market.

Minguella has insisted that he doesn’t intend to make a benefit from the napkin, but that he would relatively see it within the Barcelona museum or for the cash, if sold, to go to the club's foundation.