Messi, David Beckham bonding over maté drink: ‘Good enough for Leo’
Lionel Messi and David Beckham have taken their bonding to a new level.
On Thursday, Beckham posted a picture of him drinking maté –– a traditional South American drink made from the Yerba plant –– on his Instagram story with the comment, “If it’s good enough for Leo,” while tagging the Argentinian soccer star.
Messi, who made his MLS debut with Inter Miami last week, reposted Beckham’s photo on his own Instagram story and said, “Yo te voy hacer tomar unos buenos mates” which translates to “I’m going to make you drink some good maté.”
The friendly banter between the two comes after Beckham, who is a co-owner of Inter Miami, persuaded Messi to cross the pond and ink a 2 ½ year contract with the squad in July.
The friendship extends beyond the confines of the pitch with Messi and his wife Antonela spotted Gekkō Miami for a group date with Beckham and wife Victoria, David and Isabela Grutman, Inter Miami teammate Sergio Busquets and his girlfriend Elena Galera, and Jorge and Aleyda Mas.
Messi, 36, will bank an annual paycheck between $50-60 million from the team on top of team equity and revenue sharing from MLS’s new Apple TV+ deal.
Perhaps fueled by maté, the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner has had an explosive start to his time in Miami.
As if his game-winning free-kick on Friday against Cruz Azul wasn’t show-stopping enough, Messi opened Tuesday’s match against Atlanta United FC with two goals in the first 22 minutes.
Inter Miami proceeded to seal the game 4-0, marking the team’s largest win margin since October 2021.
The highly anticipated Messi theatrics have come to full fruition –– he’s making the MLS his own and the fans at DRV PNK stadium are loving it.
Messi celebrated his second goal on Tuesday night by turning to gesture towards Beckham in the crowd.
Tuesday’s electric performance marked Messi’s first start for Inter Miami, along with his former Barcelona teammate Busquets.
Messi and Busquets competed together for 13 years before Messi’s 2021 move to Paris Saint-Germain.
Inter Miami is back in action on Aug. 2 to play its round of 32 match.
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