Miami’s Messi madness — over the arrival of the soccer superstar Lionel Messi, one of the most famous humans on the planet — reached a fever pitch last week when he was spotted at a Publix grocery store near Fort Lauderdale, buying Lucky Charms and Fruit Loops.
Mr. Messi and his photogenic young family had landed in a soccer-crazy region that had been hoping to nab him for years.
Already, Mr. Messi looked like a local, clad in shorts and flip-flops.
South Florida has been consumed with a frenzied fandom for Mr. Messi, the Argentine whose signing on Saturday represented a coup for Inter Miami of Major League Soccer and for Miami itself, the unofficial capital of Latin America, with a penchant for celebrity.
When the team presented Mr. Messi to a packed stadium in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday night, following a violent thunderstorm, he thanked the crowd in Spanish “for helping us feel at home so quickly.”
Persons:
Miami’s Messi, Lionel Messi, —, Messi, ”
Organizations:
nab, Saturday, Inter Miami, Major League Soccer
Locations:
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Argentine, Miami, Latin America, Spanish