‘When I left they started watching baseball’ – Lionel Messi in MLS with Inter Miami draws typically brash response from ex-LA Galaxy star Zlatan Ibrahimovic

The legendary Swedish striker spent two seasons with the LA Galaxy between 2018 and 2019, scoring 53 goals in just 58 appearances. Another superstar performer has now headed to the United States, with seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi making an immediate impact in Florida – with A-list celebrities flocking to see him in action as ticket prices soar each and every time that he takes to the field.

Ibrahimovic has told journalist Luigi Garlando at La Gazzetta della Sport's 'Festival della Sport' of American fans getting excited about Messi: “I'm happy for them. They can watch soccer again. When I left, they started watching baseball.”

Ibrahimovic has previously claimed to be the best player that MLS has ever seen, telling ESPN back in 2022 of his time in California: “I was still too alive. So I was too good for the whole competition. That is what I showed. And I'm the best ever to play in MLS and that is not me having ego or trying to show off now. That is true. And when I was there, I enjoyed [it]. I had a good time. And I like the way they were working, the way they were doing the marketing stuff. And I think [playing in MLS] was the best way for me to come back after my injury. I was in the best condition ever. And I'm very proud I played for the MLS, because they were saying to me the stadiums are pretty empty when you play in that. There was no empty stadiums when I was playing. It was even overbooked, so I cannot complain, and I'm very happy I was there.”

Messi may now have taken the title of MLS GOAT, with the Argentine icon inspiring Inter Miami to a historic Leagues Cup triumph within weeks of his arrival. For all of the quality that Ibrahimovic added to the Galaxy’s ranks in Los Angeles, he never got his hands on a trophy.