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Lionel Messi and MLS Cup champions Inter Miami weren’t the only world-class athletes at the White House on Thursday.
Former Yankee and current Timberwolves co-owner Alex Rodriguez joined Inter Miami’s celebration in the East Room of the White House, appearing with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
MLS commissioner Don Garber was also in attendance.
A-Rod has no formal ties to the MLS club, but he has long been associated with the city of Miami, and it appeared that President Donald Trump invited him up for the ceremony taking place.
The president posed for a photo with A-Rod in the Oval Office before the ceremony and shouted him out while he spoke during the ceremony in the East Room, saying that he was a “big fan” of the baseball star.
Trump also shared a story about watching Rodriguez play for the Yankees while sitting with late owner George Steinbrenner.
Thursday’s ceremony honored the MLS Cup-winning club co-owned by soccer legend David Beckham, a team that features arguably one of the greatest players in the sport’s history, Messi.
Trump and the soccer icon walked into the East Room together and later shook hands in front of the crowd at the event.
Messi helped present Trump with a No. 47 Inter Miami jersey with his name on the back, a bejeweled pink team soccer ball and a limited edition Tudor watch.
Trump heaped praise on Messi and called the Argentine better than Pelé, whom the president recalled watching when he played for the New York Cosmos in the 1970s.
“Who’s better, him or Pelé?” Trump asked the Inter Miami players as they stood behind him, then pointed at Messi. “I think he is, but he is pretty good. Pelé is pretty good.”
There was also an awkward moment during the event when the president brought up fellow soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, who visited the White House in November, while invoking his youngest son.
“[Barron] is a big fan of yours,” Trump said while addressing Messi. “He thinks you’re just a great person. He’s a tremendous fan of yours, as well as a gentleman named Ronaldo… Cristiano is great. Some big champions, some great, great athletes in that sport.”
English (US)