A very rare incident occurred to Lionel Messi in his participation in Inter Miami’s recent 1-1 draw against New York City FC in the MLS (Major League Soccer). After the game, Messi decided to pose with an opposition player who was actually much shorter to him, allowing the Argentine superstar to look taller for one occasion in a picture.
Messi can be defined as anything. Many call him the GOAT (Greatest of all Time) thanks to his incredible career. He’s widely considered among the best dribblers of all time and the most entertaining player of his generation. But what he probably can’t be dubbed as is ‘tall’ because of his stature.
At 5’7’ in height, Messi has often been among the shortest footballers in the majority of matches he’s played in. That doesn’t really matter for him and the low center of gravity advantage thanks to being short helps him dribble past players at ease. But there are a few occasions in which Messi has actually towered over another footballer in terms of height.
But he appears to have found a rare moment to celebrate his superiority in terms of height when poising with New York City midfielder Maxi Moralez in the game. Even though the game ended with Miami conceding a goal in the 95th minute, Messi was more than happy to fulfill Moralez’s wishes and tower over him in a picture.
Maxi is just under 5’3 in terms of height and that shows as Messi looks quite formidable, with the top of Maxi’s head coming at about his eye level. Even though it’s rare to find someone who is shorter than Leo as one of his opponents or teammates, this isn’t the first time that the Argentine star has posed with a player shorter than him.
Earlier in the 2024 MLS season, Messi managed to catch up with former Napoli forward (and current Toronto FC star) Lorenzo Insigne. Leo couldn’t play in Inter Miami’s 3-1 win over Toronto, but was more than happy to pose for a picture with Insigne.
The Toronto FC forward is around 5’4 and that reflects in the snap, with Messi looking formidably taller than the Italian star. This isn’t the case of Messi’s protective boot making him taller, but he actually does boast a superiority in a few inches in terms of height against Insigne.
The Inter Miami star also shared a nice little moment with fellow Argentine playmaker Luciano Acosta in his side’s game against FC Cincinnati last season in the MLS. Even though Cincinnati picked up a narrow 1-0 win at Miami’s own home ground, Messi was respectful enough to link-up with Acosta and give him a few pointers at one point.
Leo could be seen acting as a ‘big brother’ to Acosta and towering over him by quite a few inches. Acosta is around 5’3’, so it’s not real surprise that he comes up looking quite a bit shorter than Messi in this aspect.
Messi also shared a cute moment with a shorter opposition player in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier game all the way back in September, 2021. In Argentina’s 3-1 win over Venezuala, the final bits of the game saw their opponents pull one goal back through Yeferson Soteldo.
Even though the goal was only a consolation strike, Soteldo was delighted to score the goal and shared a nice moment with Messi after the celebrations. He could be seen hugging Messi on the pitch, where he almost literally comes off as a little brother.
Soteldo is only about 5’2’, so it’s not a surprise that Messi is so much taller to him in this aspect. Leo might not be the tallest footballer in the world, but a few rare occasions like these prove that there are even shorter players than can give him a confidence booster about the stature of his height.