![\"Lionel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2250404599.jpg\")
Lionel Messi celebrates after Inter Miami\u2019s 3-1 title-clinching win over the Vancouver in the MLS Cup Final at Chase Stadium on Dec. 6, 2025 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Getty Images<\/p>\nFORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2014 Lionel Messi \u2018s legacy was long secured when he came to Inter Miami and joined Major League Soccer. He\u2019d won a World Cup, won dozens of trophies, was generally considered the greatest player in the sport\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t need an MLS Cup.<\/p>\n
But he wanted one \u2014 and got it.<\/p>\n
Messi and Inter Miami have completed their ascent, beating the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-1 on Saturday in the MLS Cup final for the franchise\u2019s first championship. It came 2 1\/2 years after the legend arrived in South Florida, a move that stunned plenty of onlookers at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said soccer would never make it in America,\u201d MLS Commissioner Don Garber said during the trophy ceremony. \u201cInter Miami fans, has soccer made it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Lionel Messi celebrates after Inter Miami\u2019s 3-1 title-clinching win over the Vancouver in the MLS Cup Final at Chase Stadium on Dec. 6, 2025 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Getty Images<\/p>\n
It has in South Florida, thanks to Messi. He set up the title-clinching goal with a 72nd-minute assist to Rodrigo De Paul, a play where Messi stole the ball and threaded a pass through a tiny gap in a wall of Vancouver defenders. De Paul got it in stride, pushed it into the far corner of the net \u2014 and Messi went airborne to hop into his arms a few seconds later, all smiles.<\/p>\n
And as the final minutes ticked away, Inter Miami\u2019s pink-clad fans \u2014 most wearing Messi\u2019s No. 10 on their backs \u2014 stood and stomped and cheered. South Florida has seen NFL and NBA and Major League Baseball and NHL titles in the past.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a soccer town now, too. Messi made that happen. Tadeo Allende scored in the sixth minute of stoppage time \u2014 off another Messi assist, of course \u2014 to make it 3-1. And when Messi lifted the trophy surrounded by his teammates, confetti rained down and fireworks boomed.<\/p>\n
Inter Miami became the 16th franchise in the league\u2019s 30-year history to win an MLS title. <\/p>\n
And this extends a run of parity for MLS, which has seen five different franchises win championships in the last five years and eight franchises claim a title in the last nine seasons \u2014 only Columbus has won twice in that span.<\/p>\n
It was also the culmination of a 12-year odyssey for David Beckham, part of Inter Miami\u2019s ownership group.<\/p>\n
He retired as a player in 2013 and his MLS contract said he could start a franchise at a discounted rate when his career ended. Beckham chose Miami and it took him years to finally make it happen; it wasn\u2019t until January 2018 when the franchise was formally born, after he partnered with Miami businessmen Jorge Mas and Jose Mas, and even then the team didn\u2019t have a stadium plan.<\/p>\n
The team started play in 2020, and Messi arrived halfway through the 2023 season. Inter Miami was in last place in MLS at the time.<\/p>\n
And then Messi arrived. The last-place team then now runs the league.<\/p>\n
![\"Tadeo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2250404486.jpg\")
Tadeo Allende of Inter Miami CF celebrates with teammates after scoring the team\u2019s third goal during their win over Vancouver in the MLS Cup Final. Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been an incredible journey,\u201d Beckham said.<\/p>\n
The trophy is Messi\u2019s 47th for club and country, extending his global men\u2019s soccer record, and some say it\u2019s actually 48 because MLS awards a trophy for winning conference titles as well. He\u2019s now won at least 21 titles in one-match final situations, many of them with the core of this team \u2014 Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Luis Suarez and Javier Mascherano, his longtime Barcelona teammates.<\/p>\n
Busquets and Alba are retiring and got to go out as champions. Suarez\u2019s future is uncertain. Mascherano is the coach now, one who changed Inter Miami\u2019s lineup and tactics halfway through the season \u2014 his first one leading the club \u2014 with this moment in mind.<\/p>\n
And the 38-year-old Messi, the 2024 MLS MVP who seems like a lock to win the award again this season, still is like none other in the biggest moments with a contract that could have him playing with Miami into his early 40s. When next season starts, the team will be playing in a new stadium near Miami International Airport with a back-to-back title in mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not just here to enjoy living in Miami,\u201d Beckham said. \u201cHis wife and the kids love Miami, but he\u2019s come here to win, and that\u2019s really what Leo is all about. He wants to win. He\u2019s got that dedication, the loyalty that he shows to his teammates, to the city, to the club. Leo is a winner. It\u2019s simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inter Miami went up 1-0 on an own goal in the eighth minute, before Vancouver tied it in the 60th on a score by Ali Ahmed. Another Vancouver shot hit both posts about two minutes later but stayed out, and Inter Miami got the lead for good when Messi found De Paul.<\/p>\n
And not long after the final whistle, Messi went over to the Inter Miami supporters section and threw both his hands in the air. It was a moment 2 1\/2 years in the making. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2014 Lionel Messi \u2018s legacy was long secured when he came to Inter Miami and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250,1660,5692,5427,2062,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-75419","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-lauderdale","8":"tag-fort-lauderdale","9":"tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","10":"tag-fort-lauderdale-news","11":"tag-lionel-messi","12":"tag-mls","13":"tag-mls-playoffs","14":"tag-soccer","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}