At the age of 38, Messi leads his team to an unbeaten record in the Club World Cup! Group stage qualification! Play against the Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain!

June 24th. Messi's 38th birthday. He led Inter Miami to a 2-2 draw with Palmeiras in the final group stage match. They remained unbeaten in all three group stage games, and in the second game, they pulled off a shock 2-1 victory over the Portuguese powerhouse Porto.

Messi led Inter Miami to the knockout stage, making it a team in the round of 16. The team earned over 20 million US dollars in prize money and continued his career record of never being eliminated in the group stage. Leading Inter Miami in the Club World Cup and even advancing from the group stage with Porto as the opponent, and almost topping the group, Messi's lower limit is indeed ridiculously high.

Inter Miami has Messi, but due to its poor overall lineup, it is often underestimated. It is well-grounded for Inter Miami to be able to participate in the Club World Cup, as they have a place as the host team. Moreover, Inter Miami won the regular season championship of Major League Soccer last year and broke the record in points. Messi was named the MVP. There are still voices questioning that Inter Miami is not qualified to play in the Club World Cup.

Another voice holds that Inter Miami will suffer heavy defeats on average in the group stage, and even links Inter Miami to the Chinese national team in 2002, unilaterally believing that Inter Miami's goal is also "to score one goal, get one point and win one game". However, despite such underestimation and lack of confidence, Messi led his team to remain undefeated and advance from the group stage. Inter Miami is also the first Major League Soccer team in history to defeat a European club in the main tournament and the only one among all the Major League Soccer teams participating in this Club World Cup to advance from the group stage. The other two Major League Soccer teams, Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles FC, both finished at the bottom of their groups and were eliminated. This is the difference with or without Messi.