Actor Will Smith was there, too, chatting up Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham. Or was Beckham chatting up Smith? It’s hard to know the pecking order of these things.

But the prime course was Brody. The injured Salt Lake player lay on the ground like a traffic cone in the second half when Messi moved with the ball like a freight train toward him in front of the Salt Lake net.

What to do?

Messi chipped up the ball so it nearly rolled over Brody’s body. He ran around the prone body to pick it up on the other side of the defender and uncorked a shot that was unfortunately blocked. So, maybe you can’t expect everything at these games after all.

Even Messi smiled on the field at that play. It wouldn’t have been a goal as much as a parlor trick.

All those still making “Messi free live stream” the top Google search of the night might have missed it. But right from the first episode this second season, everything began with Messi, even if it didn’t end with him.

He had an assist on the first Inter Miami goal, a shot by Robert Taylor that should have been saved. Messi also made the straight-line midfield run late in the second half to stress the Salt Lake defense before passing to Luis Suarez, who passed to an open Diego Gomez for the second goal.

Messi had a free kick stopped from an early goal by a defender set up at the post. He went through four defenders — including putting the ball through two legs — before lofting a pass that Gomez sent wide of the goal.

Once, he even tattooed a shot into the face of Salt Lake’s Brayan Vera, who went down as some Inter Miami teammates wanted a hand ball. Were they kidding? It was such a header it was a facial.

“He can take the ball far away from the goal and the feeling everyone gets is that there is promise of a goal,” Martino said of Messi.

The second half showed a tired Inter Miami team. Old, too. Sergio Busquets, who goes non-stop, began cramping up. Suarez seemed to teeter on knees far past their prime.

“A tale of two halves,’’ Martino said.

The opener was the story of a star playing like one. Messi showed he’s still in charge of a season where everyone expects everything.

©2024 South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Visit sun-sentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.