He walks the pitch far more often than he runs it these days, patrolling with choppy steps and waiting, waiting, waiting . . .
Until he sees what no one else can. Until he gets the ball at his feet and does what no one thought possible.
Lionel Messi, two months before turning 37, still has more magic in him than any other Major League Soccer player, and that is no slight. No offense to the Revolution, but everyone in the stands Saturday at Gillette Stadium will forever remember this above all else:
They saw Messi.
Assuming he plays for Inter Miami — likely, but not guaranteed, given his age and bothersome hamstring — spectators will witness one of the absolute masters of sport, in the flesh. Most fans attend games. Messi fans make pilgrimages.
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“He’s really beloved because of how he plays,” said Miami Herald writer Michelle Kaufman, now full-time on the “Messi beat” in her 36th year covering soccer. “He plays differently than anyone. If you knew nothing about soccer, when he comes on the field . . . you would know immediately.
“There’s a certain energy field that when he comes on the field, everyone elevates their game. The same guys look like different players. It’s because Messi is there. There’s the promise of magic every time he touches the ball.”
To see a transcendent athlete in person is to be swept up in that possibility — one that Messi, even now, still carries.
Even at a slower pace, Messi, all 5 feet 7 inches and 148 pounds of him, remains a wizard on the pitch, a showstopper. In his first full season in MLS, the most decorated player in the world’s most popular sport is second in the league in goals (7) and tied for the lead in assists (6), despite starting only half of Miami’s games.
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Perhaps only a handful of people are old enough to have watched Babe Ruth play. Those who saw Muhammad Ali and Pelé in person are probably well into retirement. Consider yourself one of the luckiest sports fans ever if you watched Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, or Serena Williams up close.
Can you close your eyes and see them, even today? Can you still feel the buzz?
A golden goose for MLS
Some of the greatest athletes in the world come to Boston all the time. A blessed many performed the unthinkable wearing our colors: the undeniable Tom Brady, carving up defenses; the electric Pedro Martinez, mowing down Yankees; the supernatural Bobby Orr, flying end to end; the unflappable Larry Bird, draining another clutch shot.
Were you there when Jordan signaled his arrival as an NBA superstar, scoring a playoff-record 63 points at Boston Garden in 1986? Did you hear the roar of the galleries at TPC Boston, where Tiger prowled at his peak?
What kind of stories can you tell about seeing the greatest of the greats?
Across the soccer world, they give those kinds of sermons about Messi.
“This may be the only time you see the greatest of all time,” said AppleTV lead soccer analyst Taylor Twellman, the former Revolution star who has briefly chatted with Messi. “It becomes a spectacle. It becomes a moment. Time stops.”
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The anticipated sellout at Gillette Stadium (64,000) will make the Revolution the latest MLS club to set an attendance record, surpassing the numbers for Messi’s most recent visit to Foxborough (59,183 for a Copa America quarterfinal in 2016) and the 2002 MLS Cup (61,316). Across MLS, Miami has been playing in NFL stadiums, which mirrors what we saw nearly 50 years ago with Pelé.
Messi, the record eight-time winner of the Ballon d’Or trophy for global player of the year — and its current holder — has become a golden goose for MLS. Attendance at Inter Miami road games is up some 200 percent since his arrival. Secondary-market ticket markups for his road games last season were commonly north of 1,000 percent.
“Things were going well for MLS, but he took it to a whole new level,” MLS chief communications officer Dan Courtemanche said. Their metrics of fan consumption, while still being studied, “went through the roof.”
Messi, who has ranked in the top three of Forbes’s highest-paid athletes since 2016, turned down a reported $400 million contract from Saudi Arabia. He instead signed a 2½-year MLS deal reportedly worth $50 million-$60 million in salary, team equity, and bonuses, with an option for 2026. He also gets a share of international subscriptions to Apple’s MLS streaming service.
Inter Miami, meanwhile, is projecting a fourfold growth in revenue (up to $200 million).
The Revolution, team president Brian Bilello said, did not add a Messi tax for their season ticket-holders. And they aren’t selling Messi merchandise at the stadium.
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“We aren’t trying to make this about one guy,” he said.
The lowest resale price for upper-deck seats — which typically aren’t open for Revolution games — was $200 as of Wednesday. It costs as little as $14 to get into the next home game.
The man and the mystique
Those who saw Messi in front of 100,000 at Camp Nou, the Barcelona venue where he displayed the world’s most exquisite combination of playmaking touch, slaloming dribbles, and impossible finishes, will cherish their memories. For all others, time is running out.
Bloomberg columnist Juan Pablo Spinetto likened Inter Miami matches to a “Disney World alternative for the Latin Americans who flock to Florida every year: If you are into football, it’s almost an obligatory pilgrimage to see its most adored king.”
For Argentinians, he is a source of national pride, a quasi-religious figure, their biggest hero since Maradona. It is no longer blasphemous to call him the greatest to wear the Albiceleste shirt, following Messi’s dramatic 2022 World Cup win — the last major trophy that eluded him.
“We thank God he’s from Argentina,” said Revolution forward Tomás Chancalay.
Chancalay, 25, is the Revolution’s only Argentine player. Receiving a black-and-pink No. 10 jersey, should the legend choose him in the usual postgame swap, would be an indelible thrill.
“We all dream of being like Messi,” he said through a translator. “He represents us. He represents our country. We all have family members and friends who love Messi. It would not only be an honor to receive his shirt, but it’s a great moment in my career to have played against him.”
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There is a mystique around Messi, who remains fiercely private despite having the world’s second-largest Instagram following (502 million). Anything he says or does makes headlines across the world. He has given interviews to three US reporters since arriving here last July, and one postgame interview, for AppleTV.
“The scene is insane and he’s serene,” said Twellman. “There’s an aura around him, but not the same as LeBron or Tiger when they walk into the building. Messi walks by, you get a little bit of the chills.”
At Gillette Saturday, blue-and-white Argentina shirts will dot the crowd. But the Revolution expect to mostly see red, white, and blue.
“I’ve been so pleasantly surprised by how many crowds have booed Messi and Miami,” Twellman said. “Surprisingly, New York was all pro-Messi. Which was weird for New York.
“I hope Boston shows up and gives them a little Boston.”
Matt Porter can be reached at matthew.porter@globe.com. Follow him @mattyports.