Do soccer’s GOATs (The Greatest Of All Time) smell differently? A player and his family revealed their unusual reaction to getting a Lionel Messi (Inter Miami) jersey.
“The husband of U.S. MLS star Dex McCarty couldn’t believe the smell of Lionel Messi’s sweat,” The Sun reported on April 22.
McCarty, a veteran American midfielder born in 1986, is the captain of MLS club Nashville. He came up against Messi in the team’s League Cup final against Inter Miami at Geordie’s Park in Nashville, Tennessee, on April 20.
McCarty was subbed off in the 17th minute, but the match went to penalties. Messi opened the scoring in the 23rd minute with a stunning left-footed mid-range shot that found space despite a cluster of defenders right in front of the penalty box, but Nashville, the top team in MLS’s Eastern Conference, equalized 13 minutes into the second half.
After 90 minutes of action ended in a 1-1 tie, Inter Miami and Nashville went straight to penalty kicks to determine the winner without the need for extra time as per tournament rules.
Messi stepped up to take the first kick for Inter Miami and converted with a neat shot into the left corner, while Mukhtar rattled the Miami net with a low shot for Nashville, but the second kick had a different outcome. For Miami, Busquets converted, while Nashville saw Randall Real’s attempt blocked. The next three and four kicks were successful for both teams.
In what could have been a game-winning moment, Inter Miami’s #5 kicker Victor Urola missed. Conversely, Nashville tied the game in penalty kicks when kicker #5 Surridge rattled the net.
The teams then converted their sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth kicks, forcing a goalkeeper’s duel for the eleventh kicker, which Inter Miami goalkeeper Calendar converted, while Nashville goalkeeper Panico did not, giving Miami the win.
Despite putting up a fierce fight against Messi’s Inter, Nashville ultimately fell just short. Nashville captain McCarty was disappointed with the runner-up finish, but he couldn’t hide his smile as he exchanged jerseys with Messi after the game.
According to The Sun, McCarty posted a photo of the final on social media after the game and congratulated his teammates on their run to the final, writing, “I love my boys, I’m so proud of this team.”
“Sorry to my wife, but this is going in a frame above my bed,” he said, before showing a picture of the Messi jersey he brought home. Fans envied McCarty for taking home the jersey of the world’s greatest soccer star.
However, when McCarty’s wife saw that he was planning to hang the jersey above his bed, she commented, “There’s no way that’s going to happen,” and opposed his plan.
“We smelled the smell of Messi’s jersey,” she said, “and it smelled like he was wearing men’s cologne,” which is an unusual reaction to the smell of cologne, not sweat.
Meanwhile, Messi’s perfumed sweat led Inter Miami to the League Cup championship. It was the first time Inter Miami had won a championship since the club’s inception.
Founded in 2018 and competing in MLS since 2020, Inter Miami is a young club and has been in the bottom half of the table since the 2022 season, when they finished sixth in the Eastern Conference. This season, the club has 18 points (5 W, 3 D, 14 L) in 22 league games, which puts them in 15th place in the league.
As such, Inter Miami was not a favorite heading into the League Cup, but new signing Messi has completely transformed the team. Messi joined the club on the 16th of last month, and in the span of about a month, he’s scored 10 goals in 10 games, which has helped the club rise to the top of the table.
Inter Miami hadn’t won in six games prior to Messi’s arrival, but since then they’ve won six and drawn two in eight. The draws came in the League Cup Round of 16 against Dallas, which ended in a 4-4 score, and the final against Nashville, both of which went to penalties in favor of Inter.
Messi has been on a scoring spree since joining Inter Miami, scoring in every game of the League Cup, including the final. His 10 goals and 1 assist in 10 games was devastating and helped the club win their first League Cup trophy.
Not only did Inter Miami make soccer history, but Messi did too. This was the 44th trophy of his career, and no other player in soccer history has won more trophies than Messi.
Previously, Messi was tied for first place with his former Barcelona teammate, legendary Brazilian fullback Dani Alves, with 43 trophies, but with the League Cup, he surpassed Alves to take sole possession of first place.
After the League Cup, Messi and Inter Miami will begin their league schedule with an Open Cup match against Cincinnati at 8 a.m. on Sept. 24 and an MLS match against the New York Red Bulls at 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 27.
If Messi can carry his form from the League Cup into the league, it will be interesting to see how far he can take Inter Miami in the standings, and whether he can clinch the league scoring title with just 12 league games remaining.
Currently, the top scorer in MLS is Hani Mukhtar (Nashville) with 13 goals, so if Messi, with 10 goals in 10 games, continues his goal-scoring pace from the League Cup, it’s not out of the question.
It will be interesting to see how Inter Miami and Messi fare in the rest of the season, as their League Cup victory lifted the team’s spirits. 카지노