Iniesta: Miami right place for Messi's 'happiness'

Spain legend Andres Iniesta said he believes Inter Miami is the right fit for former Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi.

In his first full season at Inter Miami, Messi, 37, has helped the club break the Major League Soccer record for most points in a single season.

Miami concluded the MLS regular season with 74 points in 34 games and a 22-4-8 (W-L-D) record, beating the New England Revolution‘s 2021 mark of 73 points.

“I would say he has found an environment where he feels comfortable, where he feels at ease,” Iniesta said of Messi to ESPN. “He is in a project that excites him, a project with an ambition to grow and he is surrounded by great players.

“I would say that what is reflected on the field is the happiness with which he is living that project, until the day he decides to stop.”

An eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, Messi came on as a substitute and scored a hat-trick in Miami’s 6-2 triumph over the Revolution on Sunday, the final day of the regular season.

In doing so, Messi became Inter Miami’s all-time leading scorer with 33 goals. Since his arrival in the summer of 2023, Miami have claimed the 2024 Supporters’ Shield, won the 2023 Leagues Cup, and reached the final of the 2023 US Open Cup.

Iniesta, who won four Champions League crowns at Barça with Messi, applauded the Argentina captain.

“Leo is football in its purest form,” Iniesta said. “What Leo represents as a footballer is football, which is what he does best. He knows how to interpret everything to perfection.”

A 2010 World Cup winner, Iniesta, who retired from football last week, also spoke about Barça teenage sensation Lamine Yamal.

Yamal, 17, has drawn comparisons with Messi.

The Spain international has broken numerous records for club and country since making his Barça debut aged 15 in 2023.

“He is a player that makes a difference, he is special,” Iniesta said. “He scores, he sets up goals, he draws the opponents’ attention. He is a unique and special player because of his age and what he has already shown.

“What stands out is the ease with which he plays, as though he were playing in his home. That is striking.”

Iniesta believes that Yamal must be protected and guided to continue excelling.

“I think we need to accompany his development,” Iniesta said. “We can’t forget he is 17 and year after year, we need to be alongside him so that the very high level he has shown at 17, he keeps increasing it because that’s the demand of being in the elite, of playing for Barca and the national team. It’s a beautiful challenge.”

Yamal, who has made over 60 appearances for Barça, played a key role as Spain won the European Championship this past summer.

There are concerns that Yamal and many other top players have too many games.

“It’s normal that as a young player he can play almost all the games,” Iniesta said. “Now there are many games, whether it’s for club or country.

“Tournaments have been added, matches have increased and all of this, evidently, causes the wear and tear of the players.”

Top players have criticised the ever-increasing fixture schedule, with some talking of strike action.

“Organisations have to think carefully about the health of the players and combine it with the spectacle,” Iniesta said. “That sometimes is not easy.

“Obviously a consensus would have to be reached because adding games in the end it takes its toll because we are not machines.

“And the demand that you are under, in which each match you have to be better and you have to win. That not only affects you physically.”