Lionel Messi‘s sons, Thiago and Mateo, both showed glimpses of their father’s skill during practice for the Inter Miami youth squads earlier this week. His eldest son even debuted for the MLS U12 team on Thursday despite wearing an arm cast.
Thiago, 10, celebrated his team’s 2-1 victory over Weston FC in the Florida Academy League. It’s unclear what happened that led to him having to wear a cast on his left arm.
Mateo, 8, is also playing for David Beckham‘s youth academy and clearly has a defensive edge to him.
He had already gone viral weeks ago for slide-tackling his friends after an Inter Miami game, but things are a bit different in a real game.
Mateo can be seen in a clip of his practice highlights how he slides perfectly clean to recover the ball and also pulls off an incredible pass.
Following Messi’s footsteps
Thiago and Mateo have always followed in their father’s footsteps when it comes to playing soccer.
They were both part of the FC Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain youth squads while Messi played there.
Ciro, Messi’s youngest son, is still too young to participate in the club’s youth teams like his brothers.
Messi, 36, has found incredible success in the MLS, so far, but head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino still has to remind him they can’t win every single game.