'I always had it in my mind to play in the MLS' - Inter Miami's Lionel Messi opens up on soccer, family, music in Apple TV interview with Zane Lowe

Messi spoke extensively on his legacy in soccer and his future plans in a wide-ranging interview with Apple's Zane Lowe at the start of the 2025 MLS campaign. In the lengthy conversation, the Argentine backed Inter Miami to win a first MLS Cup, admitted he never enjoyed life at PSG, and outlined the importance of halftime in dictating game performances.

After a disappointing first-round exit, Messi emphasized the importance of delivering on expectations this season.

"I think that the team we have today is built to try to win a championship, and that is what we're aiming at. I think there was a good adaptation from the boys that came, with the young folks that the club and the team had," Messi said. "And I think that's the objective that has to remain, to aspire to get titles, keep helping the club to grow and that the youth that are emerging from the club have the chance to keep showing up, keep playing in the Inter, play in the MLS and give the opportunity to those who have a dream and fight to achieve it. I think that's the path, right? To keep going upward, considering where we were at the start and keep growing a lot more."

This year, Messi's Inter Miami will participate in their first Club World Cup after a special invite from FIFA following their Supporters' Shield success. The Argentine believes the tournament is an important one for MLS as it allows the league to introduce itself to new fans and keep growing.

"I think this is... very important for the club, especially, to participate for the first time in a World Cup that will take place in the country and for the MLS to have two teams is a wonderful thing, and like I said, everything that's happening creates an opportunity for the MLS to keep growing in football, as a league, and for other players to have the opportunity to come and keep growing I think... football is different from the sports they are accustomed to watching in the U.S., and I think it should be managed differently because it's a different sport and this is an opportunity to change the chip, to shift, and for the MLS to continue maturing," he said.

Messi acknowledged after a difficult spell with PSG, the move to MLS was the right one at the right time of his career.

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"I always had it in my mind to play in the MLS. I think I said it more than once. It attracted me and it was something I wanted to do. Coming to play for Inter Miami was an opportunity and the way things developed during my last years in Paris, although it was a decision that I had to make on the go because I had to leave from Barcelona, I went through two years which I didn't enjoy. I wasn't happy on a daily basis, with the trainings, and the matches, I had a hard time adapting to all that. I felt called to come to Inter because it's a club that's growing, very new, with few years as a club. I liked the idea of coming and help the club to become a greater club and I also knew it was a city that my family and I would enjoy, although I didn't know it so well because I had come only a few times I knew about it, because I have family and friends that visited and visit this city and I thought it was the right time, and I don't regret it, quite the opposite," he said.

Messi, like many other athletes, discussed how music impacts him -- especially on match days.

"We listen to music in our everyday lives or before the matches and after the matches as well. The football environment and the locker room has music constantly. Some listen to their own music before the matches, on trips. But generally music is present in everything we do. I've always had that craze, of listening to music going to the games, listening to music before the matches. I think that during my whole career, it's been always this way and that football and music coexist a lot in these moments and places," Messi said.

The typically private Messi also dived into how he manages his family considering his worldwide fame.

"To be frank, I am always myself, and beyond the repercussions that my actions, my conduct may have I think the best way I always saw, is to be my own self, and obviously when I enter into my house, and my family, I try to be a normal dad, a normal husband, like anybody else, assuming the responsibilities we all have, as a father, as a husband, like anyone else, and be a normal person, like I am, beyond everything else that happens to me, the fame, the recognition I may have outside, inside my house I am a very normal person, like anybody else. I discipline the children, I put limits, play and share with them, with my wife, and I live a very normal life as well," he said.

Messi and Miami have enjoyed something of a mixed start to the season. They handily dealt with Sporting KC in the first round of the CONCACAF Champions League, before coming up short in their first MLS fixture -- settling for a frustrating 2-2 draw against a well-drilled NYCFC.

The attacking midfielder is set to feature for the Herons as they take on Houston Dynamo on Sunday night. After that, they host Jamaican side Cavalier SC in the next round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.