Does Lionel Messi speak English? Inter Miami star sits down for NBC interview with Tom Llamas in Spanish

Feargal Brennan

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Does Lionel Messi speak English? Inter Miami star sits down for NBC interview with Tom Llamas in Spanish image

Lionel Messi's arrival at Inter Miami has triggered a tidal wave of excitement in the United States and in Major League Soccer in 2023.

Messi opted to make the move to Florida following his departure from Paris Saint-Germain as part of a new chapter in the career of the Argentina captain.

The former Barcelona superstar has hit the ground running, playing several matches for the club in July and August and scoring plenty of goals already.

Off the field, he made a brief cameo at his official unveiling and has done a few postgame flash interviews — all in Spanish — but he has otherwise kept a low profile outside of a couple of trips to local restaurants that drew crowds.

While Messi rarely does media appearances, he occasionally will provide an insight for fans into his personal and everyday life.

But after spending a number of years in the United States, does he speak English? AllSportsPeople dives deeper into Messi's communication skills.

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Does Lionel Messi speak English?

Messi's native language is obviously Spanish, with the Argentinian staunchly proud of his Rosario accent, despite spending many years in Spain.

During his time in Catalonia he also learned Catalan, with certain Barcelona teammates speaking it as their first language.

But there are very few public instances of Messi speaking in English. That situation appears to have changed during his time in France, with rumours of his level of English improving.

Previously, Messi claimed he was too nervous to answer questions in English, despite taking language lessons since 2020, as per an interview with journalist Guillem Balague.

"I've been learning English for a year and a half. I understand it, but I don't speak it," he said in 2021.

Messi's English has improved, helped by English-speaking teammates and his wife Antonella Roccuzzo, who speaks it.

The most famous example of Messi being helped out with questions in English came via his old rival Cristiano Ronaldo in a Ballon d'Or awards ceremony.

The 35-year-old is likely to take it in stages in answering questions in English in Miami, but with a majority of English speakers in the Inter Miami squad, he could pick it up quickly.

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Since joining Inter Miami, Messi has not increased his public use of English, still doing interviews solely in Spanish. Knowing that with his exhausting platform, his every word is dissected endlessly by the media and fans, it's understandable that Messi would want to make sure he's using his native language to ensure his clearest intent comes across.

He spoke Spanish in his NBC interview with Tom Llamas at the end of the 2025 regular season, with Llamas first asking his questions in English for the audience before then switching to Spanish to communicate his question to the subject.

However, there are signs that he does speak English privately now when necessary. His former Inter Miami teammate Julian Gressel said on the first episode of his podcast titled "Player/Manager" in early 2024 that Messi did speak English to other members of the squad when needing to communicate.

"He came over to me and said something in English. That was the first time he had spoken to me in English during the game. He was covering his mouth when he speaks, as he always does when he speaks because there are a million cameras on him, and he said, 'Now we change, you stay and Jordi runs in behind.' After he goes, 'English pretty good, no?' I said 'yes, very good, I understood everything!'"

Lionel Messi contract, salary at Inter Miami

Messi has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Miami, keeping him in the USA through the end of the 2025 season.

There is also an option to extend for another 12 months after that if he wants to play in the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted across the USA, Canada and Mexico.

Details on Messi's initial contract in Miami have trickled through and as per reports from the Miami Herald, Messi's deal will be worth $125m-$150m (£100m-£120m) in total, which breaks down to around $4.1-$5m (£3.3m-£4m) per month.

With his initial deal running down, Messi signed a new contract with Inter Miami in October 2025 for another two years, ending at the conclusion of the 2027 MLS season in October.

News Correspondent