.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=3840&quality=60)
'What the hell is the Leagues Cup?!' No one would have blamed you for asking the question. To be fair, just a month ago, even the most diehard of North American soccer fans wouldn't have had an answer to it. In the run up to this summer's tournament, there were many fans all over the world left wondering the same thing.
Well, everyone knows now, and they all know thanks to one man: Lionel Messi. This was his tournament, his coming-out party on North American shores. Seven games and 10 goals later, Messi has added yet another trophy to his unmatchable collection. Neither Pele nor Maradona ever won a Leagues Cup, and that's because, until this summer, it didn't exist!
Because of that fact, there was a sense of wonderment, of intrigue, as this tournament kicked-off in July. What would it mean? What would it look like? Would anyone care?
Thanks to a certain Argentine superstar, we have an answer to those questions. Messi has put this tournament on the map, giving it life it never would have had without him.
Before a ball was kicked, no one really knew how this new competition would be defined. Now, we all know that we'll remember it as the moment Messi arrived to lend his star-power to a tournament that will always be associated with him.