Lionel Messi fan travels 1,200 miles to see him play with Inter Miami only to find he wasn’t there

An Major League Soccer fan has gone viral over the weekend after being left sorely devastated by Inter Miami’s 4-1 defeat to Philadelphia Union – and it wasn’t even the scoreline that was the disappointment.

The supporter travelled over one thousand miles to watch Lionel Messi in action only to find he wasn’t on the field, or even in the league yet. 

The TV broadcast caught him holding a sign that said, ‘I traveled 1,200 miles to see the soccer goat,’ in reference to Messi, before he threw it to the ground in disgust. 

Messi has been the talk of the soccer universe after his headline-making decision to sign with Inter Miami. However at the time of the Saturday’s game against the Philadelphia Union, Miami had yet to even officially announce Messi’s debut.

Messi was also in Argentina and played in exhibition game paying tribute to his Argentina teammate Maxi Rodriguez on Saturday. 

Messi was instead in Argentina playing in a game for international teammate Maxi Rodriguez

To make matters worse for the disappointed Messi fan – who could have saved himself a trip had he done some research- Inter Miami suffered a 4-1 dismantling at the hands of the Union.

News broke Sunday that Inter Miami is reportedly targeting the game against Cruz Azul on July 21st for Messi’s debut.

Tickets on resale websites had been advertised for as much as $20,000 amid the interest in Messi’s possible debut.

Owner Jorge Mas had admitted earlier this month that Inter Miami would have to strengthen its security operation further to cope with the explosion of interest following Messi’s arrival.

Speaking to the Miami Herald, Mas said: ‘Security will obviously be enhanced. 

Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas has reportedly confirmed the date of Messi’s debut as July 21

‘Players will be bussed in, going through a tunnel. All of those security protocols are already prepared both for here and away. And it’s not only for our games. 

‘It’s going to be an everyday occurrence and something we witnessed and I thought handled very well when (Messi) was here with Argentina before the World Cup. 

‘As you may recall, Argentina trained in Miami before they flew over to to Doha. 

‘We had an opportunity to see some of the Messi mania at our doors on an everyday basis during practice. So, we’re very prepared. We’ve been getting ready for this.’