Lionel Messi and David Beckham partied in Miami on Friday night to celebrate a 4-0 win over Charlotte FC in the Leagues Cup.
Their wives, Antonela Roccuzzo and Victoria Beckham, joined the celebrations along with two other Miami soccer superstars: Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.
Busquets’ wife, Elena, was also there, posing with Victoria and Antonela after another great night at the Inter Miami football ground.
Messi scored his eighth goal in Miami in just his fifth appearance for his new team as they advanced to the quarter-finals of the League Cup and now have a realistic chance of winning a trophy next weekend.
And to mark the occasion, Messi, Miami co-owner Beckham and the rest of the group were hosted by David Grutman at Gekko Miami, a sushi and steakhouse.
David Beckham and Lionel Messi celebrated Inter Miami’s 4-0 win over Charlotte with Jordi Alba (second left), Sergio Busquets (second right) and David Grutman (right)
Messi and his wife Antonela Roccuzzo were photographed celebrating a successful night of football
Antonela posed for a photograph with Victoria Beckham (right) and Sergio Busquets’ wife, Elena
Roccuzzo shared a photo with her husband Messi after his eighth goal in Miami in his fifth match
Miami co-owner David Beckham poses with his new stars Alba (left), Messi and Busquets
Victoria posted some photos from the night on Instagram, writing: ‘I LOVE MIAMI!!! So much fun last night!!! Kisses @DavidBeckham @AntonelaRoccuzzo @Leo Messi xxxx’.
Meanwhile, Grutman shared photos of himself with rising American soccer stars, captioning them “Casual Friday.”
Grutman is a friend of the Beckham family and has been seen at several Miami games at DRV PNK Stadium since Messi arrived to play with the team last month.
He has had a front-row seat to what has been Messi’s meteoric impact on the Miami team, which plays the Philadelphia Union on Tuesday night for a place in the final.
It was Messi’s teammate who gave Miami the lead over Charlotte on Friday night, scoring a penalty in the 12th minute.
Robert Taylor doubled the lead 20 minutes later with his third goal for the team since Messi joined the team.
They made it 3-0 in the 78th minute with an own goal by Adilson Malanda that put the game out of reach for Charlotte: she was trying to intercept a pass across the goal and inadvertently beat her own goalkeeper.
And it was Messi who rounded off the score with an own goal, which he converted from close range with a thunderous left-footed shot that went cut into the area.
Busquets, who was pictured posing for a selfie with Grutman at the restaurant on Friday night, said afterwards that it was “beautiful” to be playing with Messi again.
Meanwhile, Miami coach Tata Martino insisted that it is not only thanks to Messi that the team has started to improve its form. Friday’s win over Charlotte was Miami’s biggest in 2023.
“It’s not just Leo, we’ve found different ways to score,” Martino said.
Messi and Busquets pose for a photo with Grutman (center), owner of the Japanese steakhouse Gekko Miami, where the Miami stars headed after beating Charlotte FC.
Grutman poses for a photo with Busquets, who arrived in Miami with Lionel Messi
Messi was the star again when Inter Miami defeated Charlotte FC with a resounding score of 4-0
Messi and Miami will return to action on Tuesday night against Philadelphia Union
But Charlotte coach Christian Lattanzio couldn’t help but focus on Messi’s impact after the match.
“When you have Messi, you know he just needs one chance. He just needs one second,” he said.
“You have to be very clever to stop him from producing the magic he has been producing since he left for Barcelona when he was 16.”
Messi, Busquets and Alba return to action for Miami on Tuesday night against the Philadelphia Union, seeking a place in next weekend’s League Cup final.
The Union will be at home for that game and will host Miami at Union Park.
