Lionel Messi's 8th Ballon d'Or trophy celebrated by Inter Miami in exhibition match
The Hindu
Lionel Messi celebrated his 8th Ballon D'Or win with Inter Miami fans, hoisting the trophy in a pregame ceremony. He was welcomed by MLS Commissioner Don Garber, Inter Miami owners, and the crowd. Messi thanked the Miami fans for making him feel at home and expressed hope for more titles in the future. Messi is widely considered the GOAT of football, with 8 Ballon D'Or trophies and 18 years of success. Inter Miami will look to him for more success in 2024.
Lionel Messi held the Ballon d'Or over his head as fireworks lit up the sky to bring a pregame ceremony to a close. And with that, Inter Miami got to celebrate the game's greatest player one more time in 2023.
Messi was on the field for his Major League Soccer club on Friday night for a friendly against New York City FC, a match put together to commemorate his eighth time winning the Ballon d'Or — presented annually to the game's top player — at a black-tie ceremony in Paris last month. No other player has won that award more than five times.
Messi — carrying the trophy in his left hand — walked to midfield on a gold carpet laid out across the pitch, where MLS Commissioner Don Garber was among those awaiting his arrival for a brief pregame ceremony. He embraced Garber, Inter Miami owners Jorge and Jose Mas, then hoisted the trophy as the crowd roared.
“It's beautiful to share it with you all,” Messi said. “I've been here for a short time, but it seems like a long time.”
Here's how big a deal the moment was: Even Garber pulled out his cell phone to take a picture of the moment.
“You, Inter Miami fans, have the best player who's ever played the game,” Garber said. “The winner of his eighth Ballon d'Or, the guy who lifted as captain the Leagues Cup for your team, thank you Leo for your belief in Major League Soccer and making your club and your league a league of choice.”
It was a perfect bookend to Messi's first four months officially as part of club: Year 1 started with an on-field party and ended with another celebration with a look ahead to Year 2.
The Opposition Congress demanded that the government open the Gandhi Vatika Museum, depicting Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy and freedom struggle, built at a cost of ₹85 crore in Jaipur’s Central Park last year, during the Congress-led regime in Rajasthan. The museum has not been opened to the public, reportedly because of the administration’s engagements with the State Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
Almaya Munnettam (Lay People to the Fore), group in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church opposed to the synod-recommended Mass, rejected a circular issued by Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil and apostolic administrator Bosco Puthur on June 9 to implement the unified Mass in the archdiocese from July 3.