'You speak to the team' - Lionel Messi's demand to team-mate revealed as Julian Gressel reveals why Inter Miami superstar 'laughed a little bit' at his pre-game speech

Before the crucial clash against Nashville, Gressel was entrusted with rallying the troops by Messi himself. Although he felt extremely honoured by the gesture, it left him a bit nervous as well.

Recalling the moment on his podcast PLAYER/MANAGER with sports broadcaster Zealand Shannon, Gressel shared Messi's request: "He [Leo] came up to me and said, in English, 'You speak to the team.' I was like yes, okay, sounds good."

In a stroke of ingenuity, Gressel decided to infuse Messi's native language into his speech on the field and opted to speak in Spanish to motivate his teammates.

"In the game against Nashville, the second leg, I said something in Spanish. I said, 'Let's win the first five minutes and then we're going to win the game.' Super quick, super simple. Let's go... and then we scored after seven minutes. Not quite five minutes, but I felt pretty good about my pregame speech," Gressel recounted.

The camaraderie and trust displayed by Messi left a lasting impression on Gressel, highlighting the Argentine's leadership qualities both on and off the field. Gressel emphasized, "It's a cool moment when he comes up to you and asks you to say something to the team. To have the trust from him in me is something that obviously is a great feeling and something that shows me okay I've done the right things over the last few months to earn his trust."

While Gressel's motivational words paid dividends as Inter Miami clinched victory against Nashville, the triumph was overshadowed by Messi's early exit from the match due to a hamstring injury. The 37-year-old maestro was subsequently ruled out of Miami's clash against D.C. United and Argentina's upcoming international fixtures in the US.

Despite Messi's setback, both Inter Miami and Argentina are determined to soldier on in their respective campaigns. Argentina is scheduled to face El Salvador and Costa Rica in international friendlies, while Miami gears up for crucial league encounters against the New York Red Bulls and New York City.