Lionel Messi’s ATL debut

With Messi’s MLS debut in Atlanta in midweek complete, I thought I would share a few thoughts on my second time photographing the Argentine for both club and country – as the atmosphere struck a chord with me.

Big moments like these lend themselves to special photos. Regardless of the result, a name like Messi arriving in Atlanta was always going to bring about a massive impact both on and off the pitch.

The match, ending in a 2-2 draw against Atlanta United, was brought to life in any given moment where Messi was either on the touchline or on the pitch playing. The 30 minutes Messi played were some of the loudest I have ever heard in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but also some of the strangest. The moment Atlanta United’s Alexsei Miranchuk equalized, nearly all of the 70,000 in attendance were ripped from their seats and sent into cheer. Having Messi in my viewfinder while watching thousands in hot pink and sky-blue kits with “10” on their backs cheering for the team that just scored against him epitomized the word surreal.

Having photographed and experienced Messi playing for both his club and country, I can confidently say the two settings paint vastly different pictures. The extent to which one is deemed “better” than the other, I feel I have no influential say; however, the former was undoubtedly different from anything I have ever seen in football and juxtaposes anything I’ve grown up watching outside of the U.S. .

Albeit a small moment and rather representative of modern football, specifically here in the States, I felt the need to jot it down, as it stands out. Whether you like it or not, Lionel Messi garners these kinds of moments.

Photos/words by Matt Dingle.