Lionel Messi’s Former Clubs, Two Premier League Teams Beaten to First Messi Cup

The inaugural edition of the Messi Cup, a tournament launched by Lionel Messi earlier this year for U16 teams, was won by Argentine giants River Plate, who defeated Atlético Madrid in Sunday’s final.

In October it was announced that the legendary Inter Miami forward and his production company 525 Rosario had created a competition for “today’s game [to] meet tomorrow’s players.”

Eight of the biggest clubs from across the globe were chosen to send their best representatives for the youth team tournament, which was held across six days between Dec. 9–14 exclusively in Miami. Three of the entrants had close ties to Messi; his boyhood Argentine club Newell’s Old Boys, the team he represented more often than any other, Barcelona and his current employers Inter Miami.

The Premier League duo of Manchester City and Chelsea were also invited, while River Plate and Atlético Madrid made it to the final.

The tournament began with a group stage, as the eight teams were split in half to guarantee at least three fixtures against one another in a round-robin format. Chelsea and City topped Groups A and B respectively, dropping just two points between them across three fixtures held on consecutive days between Dec. 9–12. Atlético and River each finished second to qualify for the semifinals which were held on Saturday.

The English pairing could not maintain their strong start to the competition. City twice equalized before ultimately falling to Atlético while Chelsea were beaten 3–1 by River.

And so came the grand final held at Chase Stadium, the venue Messi has called home with Inter Miami for the past two-and-a-half years. River’s Bruno Cabral scored two first-half goals to decide the showpiece, following up an impressive effort with the outside of his boot to nab a second just 30 seconds after the restart.

The competition’s official website has grand plans for the future. “The vision is to scale internationally with feeder tournaments, digital-first storytelling, and future editions in other host cities,” it declares. Yet, that same outlet hasn’t even updated the details of each match which have since unfolded.

Messi wasn’t even in Miami to see the action unfold. Instead, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner was dodging rioting fans during a calamitous tour of India which wasn’t wrapped up until Monday.