<p>It rained on his parade, but <strong><a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/football/article/when-will-lionel-messi-make-his-debut-for-inter-miami-all-you-need-to-know-23298384" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">Lionel Messi</a></strong> greeted his new Inter Miami fans and was hailed by the club&rsquo;s owner as &ldquo;America&rsquo;s number 10&rdquo; at a damp but celebratory unveiling event on Sunday.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Miami&rsquo;s 20,000 capacity stadium was close to full despite a huge thunder storm just before the event to celebrate the arrival of the Argentine World Cup winner was due to begin.</p>
<h2>Downpour delays unveiling</h2>
<p>A massive tropical downpour forced organisers to delay the start of &ldquo;The Unveil&rdquo; as fans took cover or waited out the rain in their cars.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Messi, who arrived in Miami on Tuesday with his family and caused a viral sensation after being photographed shopping with them in a local supermarket, thanked the supporters.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Thank you very much to all the people for supporting me and giving me this love. I am very happy to be here in Miami,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I really want to start training, to compete, I have the same desire that I always had to compete, to want to win, to help the club continue to grow. I am very happy to have chosen to come to play in this city with my family, to choose this project and I have no doubt that we are going to enjoy it a lot, we are going to have a good time and very good things are going to happen,&rdquo; he said.</p>
<p>The event started around two hours later than originally scheduled with wet but delighted fans chanting Messi&rsquo;s name as the lights dimmed on the venue. The club&rsquo;s co-owner <strong><a href="https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/hollywood-news/article/david-beckham-gets-emotional-after-waiting-in-12-hour-line-to-mourn-queen-23246336" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">David Beckham</a></strong> opened the ceremony saying Messi&rsquo;s arrival was a &ldquo;dream come true.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Leo, we are so proud that you have chosen our club for the next stage in your career,&rdquo; said the former Manchester United player whose move to MLS&rsquo;s Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007 was the league&rsquo;s previous biggest arrival.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>&lsquo;Welcome to our family&rsquo;</h2>
<p>&ldquo;Welcome to our family, Leo,&rdquo; Beckham added in Spanish, to roars from the crowd. Miami&rsquo;s majority owner Jorge Mas then whipped the crowd up with his own bilingual speech. &ldquo;Tonight is a gift and celebration to the city that opened its arms to my family,&rdquo; said the Cuban-American businessman. &ldquo;Tonight we are doing this in the rain. This is holy water!&rdquo; he added.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;This is our moment! Our moment to change the football landscape in this country,&rdquo; he added, before introducing Messi as &ldquo;Your new number 10, America&rsquo;s number 10.&rdquo;</p>
<p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever</em></span></p><p>
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Argentina’s World Cup star Lionel Messi promises good things for Inter Miami fans at glitzy unveiling; team owner Beckham says it’s a dream come true

Lionel Messi: I can’t wait to play

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