Former Barcelona manager to reunite with Messi at Inter Miami

Seven-time Ballon d’Or winner, Lionel Messi, will be reunited with a familiar face when he sets foot in the Magic City.

Gerardo “Tata” Martino will return to Major League Soccer (MLS) as the new manager of Inter Miami CF, according to a club announcement on Wednesday.

The 60-year-old Argentinian is Inter Miami’s third permanent head coach since its debut MLS season in 2020 after Diego Alonso and Phil Neville. The latter left at the beginning of June after a poor start to the current campaign. Since then, the team has continued to struggle. It currently sits bottom of the Eastern Conference.

Yet, with the summer arrivals of Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets, Martino is hopeful of turning things around.

“They are really important, ” he said of the former Barcelona players.

“I hope that they can help us to make the team better from an emotional and playing point of view so we can have a season-ending more in line with what is expected of this club.”

Messi and Busquets played under Martino at Barcelona in the 2013/14 season. Messi later reunited with his Argentinian compatriot for the national team from 2014 to 2016. In all, the forward produced 41 goals and 15 assists in 46 club and international games with Martino.

Martino heads to Miami after ending a three-year stint with the Mexican national team in 2022. The 60-year-old last coached in the MLS between 2017 and 2018 with Atlanta United. He led the club to the MLS Cup and won the Sigi Schmid Coach of the Year award in 2018.