I was told I wasn’t good enough to play non-league football, now I’m team-mates with Lionel Messi

LIONEL Messi’s Miami debut was the stuff of fantasy.

A match-winning free-kick, with the last significant touch of the game, arcing over the wall, allowing him to hare off to find his children to share the celebrations.

AP

Lionel Messi scored a dramatic late winner on his Inter Miami debut[/caption]

Reuters

Former non-league footballer Robert Taylor celebrates with Messi[/caption]

Getty

Taylor gave Inter Miami the lead on Messi’s debut[/caption]

But while the start of the Messi US era will have put a golden glow around the MLS, arguably the real fairytale was in Inter Miami’s other scorer.

Robert Taylor and his first half goal were understandably forgotten by most when Messi, as he has done so often, stole the global headlines.

Messi’s image was all over the stands inside the DRV PNK Stadium and it was genuinely loud, despite only 21,000 filling it with a blaze of passion and cavalcade of colour.

And his new team-mates know his arrival is transformational.

Taylor was struggling to pinch himself as he came to terms with his new team-mates – Messi, Sergio Busquets and, soon, Jordi Alba.

The Finnish son of an English pro, Taylor cut his youth teeth at Nottingham Forest and Lincoln.

But it never worked out, even when he dropped down to the fringes of the game, with Boston TOWN – not United – and Lincoln Moorlands Railway in the United Counties League.

Taylor said: “If anyone had told me a few years ago that, sitting on the bench for Lincoln Moorlands Railway, that I’m going to play with Busquets and Messi I would have laughed in their face.

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“I was sitting on the bench, I wasn’t able to get any minutes, the coach told me I wasn’t strong enough, basically not good enough.

“That tested me. I was calling my parents back home in Finland and telling them that I wanted to look for something else, other options.”

A decade later, by way of clubs in Finland and Norway, he has 29 caps for his country and is sharing a dressing room with the greatest of all time.

Taylor added: “They are inspirational players, unbelievable.

“Messi just makes the right decisions all of the time.

“It was a special occasion to be part of – a sold out stadium, Messi and Busquets making debuts.

“To witness that free kick and the quality he brings to the team, it’s unbelievable. 

“The emotions were still running strong and there was a lot of adrenalin for everyone.

“But eventually we’ll have to get used to it and not get too emotional around it, just focus on the game.”

Taylor’s dad played for top-flight Finnish side KuPS in the 1990s.

Son Robert represented Forest, Lincoln and Barnet at youth level, but had to move abroad in order to get his chance.

He penned a two-year deal with Inter Miami in February 2022 after joining from Norwegian side Brann.

The left winger has gone on to make 60 appearances for the MLS side to date, scoring five times and laying on nine assists.

AP

Taylor joined Inter Miami from Brann in February 2022[/caption]