Lionel Messi is making a giant career move by heading to America to play for Inter Miami. In the process, he is also giving his wife, Antonela, a new group of fans. This was abundantly clear as she stole his attention at his introductory ceremony with his new team Sunday night. While the presence of one of the greatest soccer players of all time surely made an impact, fans showed their true colors, and watched Messi’s wife the whole time.
Messi’s wife is an influencer. At least that is what Google calls her. I think she is just really good at dealing with the pressure she gets from being attached to one of the five most famous living athletes. Either way, she was turning more heads than her husband. American soccer fans who were seemingly unaware of her called her, “the most beautiful woman in the world.”
Messi’s wife is as good for American soccer as Messi is. Him and his family went to a grocery store in America and got mobbed the other day. He has already proven how much media attention he brings to any team he is on. His wife doing the same is an unexpected development though. In one night, she just became sports fans’ favorite wife.
Soccer’s biggest problem is the pace of play. With the option to cut to Messi’s wife cheering him on in the middle of the game, Inter Miami might’ve solved this issue. From now on, when a player goes down for an injury that happened in his head, we can watch Antonella Roccuzzo either pretend to care, or go on her phone.
The MLS needs to be paying attention to how the internet reacted to her first appearance. She is going to command viewership. They would be a joke of an organization not to take advantage of this.
