As Messi and his teammates walked down the tunnel, Mahomes stood waiting in a doorway to wish the former Barcelona forward good luck as they shook hands. “I just met Messi the other day, I was so nervous… I was hoping it would happen naturally,” Mahomes later admitted on the ImPaulsive podcast.

“So I was walking down the hall and they’re walking in a tight hallway. He’s going to warm up, what am I supposed to say? ‘Have fun out there’ and he had a goal and an assist so I feel like he had a great time, he had fun, it was all on me.”

During the event, one of the hosts suggested that football was “tougher” than soccer, to which Mahomes jokingly responded, “I don’t have to run as much, that’s a positive,” prompting laughter from Messi.

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Lionel Messi recently returned to action for Inter Miami ( Image: Getty Images)

Later, Mahomes shared a pair of photos of him and Messi side by side with the trophy, captioned simply, “World Cup Kick-Off with @adidas.” This comes ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which is scheduled to be held across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, with Messi’s Argentina looking to defend their title, becoming the first back-to-back winners since Brazil in 1958/1962.

But the friendship appears far from one-sided, with Messi having traveled to New Orleans in February together with his Miami teammates Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba, and Sergio Busquets to watch Mahomes in action at the Superdome. Unfortunately for the Texan, it proved a game to forget as they lost 40-22 as he struggled to find any rhythm in the game, throwing three touchdowns and two interceptions whilst also being sacked eight times.

And it turns out that since moving to the U.S. in 2023, Messi has grown to love football, telling the Big Time Podcast in 2024, via Goal, “I’m learning a lot about American football, getting to know it better, and loving it.”