Lionel Messi appears so comfortable in MLS that he's even willing to try out speaking English

lionel messi appears so comfortable in mls that he's even willing to try out speaking english

Lionel Messi has almost exclusively spoken his native Spanish during his public appearances throughout his career, but the star is picking up enough English to communicate with his Inter Miami teammates.

Midfielder Julian Gressel became one of the first of Messi’s Miami teammates to talk about the World Cup winner’s foreign language skills and said in a recent interview that Messi can mix in discussions in English despite primarily speaking Spanish. This all comes after numerous situations where he has refused to even attempt to speak another language or has just stuck with Spanish.

“There was a funny moment that we had during this world tour on the field,” Gressel said about the team’s preseason tour on the Player/Manager podcast. “He didn’t really ever speak to me much and if he did, then it was a little bit in Spanish always. I understand most of it in Spanish. He came over to me and said something in English. That was the first time he’d spoken to me in English, during the game. He was covering his mouth, like he always does and goes, ‘Now we change. You stay and Jordi [Alba] runs. Jordi goes more in behind,’ and I was just like, ‘Yes, okay, okay. Sounds good.'”

Messi capped off the moment with a positive progress report on how his English is progressing.

“Then, after — this is the funny part about it — he goes, ‘English pretty good, no?” Gressel said. “I was like, ‘Yes, very, very good.’ I understood everything.”

The media-shy Messi has rarely even been heard speaking a language other than his native Spanish, including during his spell at Paris Saint-Germain. It raised questions about his ability to integrate into MLS, though with the notable caveat that Spanish is a language many of his teammates are familiar with and his language skills would not be a problem in Miami.

Several of Messi’s teammates, though, said he’s been able to communicate in English and it appears he does so on the field. As Gressel acknowledged, though, Spanish is still his primary language.

Inter Miami are undefeated to start the MLS season after three games and return to play on Thursday when they play Nashville SC in the Concacaf Champions Cup round of 16.

News Related

OTHER NEWS

FA confident that Man Utd starlet will pick England over Ghana

Kobbie Mainoo made his first start for Man Utd at Everton (Photo: Getty) The Football Association are reportedly confident that Manchester United starlet Kobbie Mainoo will choose to represent England ... Read more »

World Darts Championship draw throws up tricky tests for big names

Michael Smith will begin the defence of his world title on the opening night (Picture: Getty Images) The 2024 World Darts Championship is less than three weeks away and the ... Read more »

Pioneering flight to use repurposed cooking oil to cross Atlantic

For the first time a long haul commercial aircraft is flying across the Atlantic using 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). A long haul commercial flight is flying to the US ... Read more »

King meets world business and finance figures at Buckingham Palace

The King has met business and finance leaders from across the world at a Buckingham Palace reception to mark the conclusion of the UK’s Global Investment Summit. Charles was introduced ... Read more »

What Lou Holtz thinks of Ohio State's loss to Michigan: 'They aren't real happy'

After Ohio State’s 30-24 loss to Michigan Saturday, many college football fans were wondering where Lou Holtz was. In his postgame interview after the Buckeyes beat Notre Dame 17-14 in ... Read more »

Darius Slay wouldn't have minded being penalized on controversial no-call

Darius Slay wouldn’t have minded being penalized on controversial no-call No matter which team you were rooting for on Sunday, we can all agree that the officiating job performed by ... Read more »

Mac Jones discusses Patriots future after latest benching

New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones (10) Quarterback Mac Jones remains committed to finding success with the New England Patriots even though his future is up in the air following ... Read more »
Top List in the World