Lionel Messi was inches away from punching Vitinha – & it bought tears to our eyes

An alien invader tuning in to DAZN’s coverage of Inter Miami against PSG would have been forgiven for thinking that the Champions League winners were facing a single player.

The simpering portrayal of the Club World Cup last 16 clash as Lionel Messi’s quest to shock the team touted as ‘the future of football’ was nauseating at best.

While acknowledging that the broadcaster is likely to overhype FIFA’s latest assault on the beautiful game, such slanted coverage was insulting to viewers in both Europe and the United States.

But football has a brilliant tendency to cut through marketing desperation; PSG ran up a 4-0 lead before half-time on autopilot. Messi barely had a kick in anger during the first 45 minutes.

Having celebrated his 38th birthday earlier in the week, perhaps the veteran was grateful for a gentle afternoon stroll in the air-conditioned Atlanta stadium.

The maestro did turn on the style during the second half, albeit against opponents already mentally preparing for the quarter-finals.

But it was telling that Messi’s major contribution to the match, in a competition that FIFA shoehorned him and Miami into on dubious grounds, came as a flash of impotent anger rather than one of brilliance.

Struggling to dispossess Vitinha, despite practically climbing onto the back of his former team-mate, Messi’s metaphorical pot boiled over after the PSG man released the ball.

Raising his arm, the Inter Miami talisman was inches away from striking Vitinha and facilitating a union between the PSG player and unconsciousness.

Qué coño hace Messi lanzando un puñetazo a Vitinha. Este tío no sabe perder, que mal deportista. pic.twitter.com/8baltrsOrt

— ᴍᴀɴᴜ. (@ESnomanu) June 29, 2025

It’s hard to describe the moment as anything other than momentary red mist, especially as both players embraced warmly at the end of the game.

But Messi’s brief transformation into Tyson Fury was superbly indicative of the futility of the occasion.

Indeed, even the performative glee from Ronaldo bots on social media felt forced. The real anger should be reserved for FIFA for flogging Messi to promote their steroid-pumped nonsense of a competition.

It wasn’t just Messi either. Luis Suarez moved around the pitch with a studied slowness, like an elderly pet with mobility issues, while Sergio Busquets was no more effective than a Soccer Aid celebrity.

The problem with Messi and Miami’s undeserved participation was that it was destined to show the MLS just how far its club sides are behind those of Europe and South America.

Asked how the gap might be closed, Miami coach Javier Mascherano passed on the question.

“People involved in MLS know better than me what they have to do to progress in the league and be competitive,” he said.

DAZN (pronounced ‘Dazone’) did their best to talk up Messi and Miami’s second-half performance, albeit in the manner of parents on toilet training duty, but the Argentine’s frustration told its own story.

In an age where humanity is sacrificed at the altar of content, watching Messi flail against elite opponents provoked the thought that the great man should have retired after lifting the World Cup two-and-a-half years ago.

Seeing him lash out at Vitinha was undignified. While the Club World Cup has provoked a certain level of rubbernecking, nobody wanted to see Messi’s decline laid so bare.

By Michael Lee

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