Inter Miami's Julian Gressel shared some insight about the standards and mentality Lionel Messi brought to the Herons' locker room.
Messi joined Major League Soccer in the summer of 2023 and immediately helped Inter Miami win Leagues Cup 2023, the club's first major trophy. Former Barcelona teammates Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba soon joined him in the United States, and the Herons went on to achieve the best regular season in MLS history, collecting the Supporters' Shield with a record-breaking 74 points in 2024.
Accomplishing such a feat does not come without a winner's mindset, and Gressel revealed just how determined Messi was to collect three points from every game Inter Miami played.
"It's demanding [playing with Messi]. You're talking about the player with the most wins in the history of the game," Gressel said on the Major League Journeymen podcast. "They're coming in and they're expecting the same, and you as a teammate, you kind of have to get accustomed to that and get used to that with Messi, Suárez, Busquets and Alba."
Gressel went on to share a memory after Inter Miami only managed a draw earlier in the 2024 season. "It's unacceptable to tie a game, as simple as that," he said. "We tied a game earlier in the year and I remember [Messi] being really really upset in the locker room. He's like, 'We shouldn't tie, we can't tie.'"
