Messi rocks Ksh23m watch as he watches Victor Wanyama’s CF Montreal stun his Inter Miami

Lionel Messi was not on the pitch as his Inter Miami suffered a 3-2 defeat to Victor Wanyama’s CF Montreal on Monday morning but he still caught the attention in the stands.

Messi was rested for the game in Florida as the MLS leaders tackled Montreal but coach Gerardo Martino’s men were second best against the young and hungry Canadian side.

Montreal took a 2-1 lead courtesy of goals from Fernando Alvares and Mattias Coccaro either side of Leonardo Campana’s strike for Miami before Ibrahim Sanusi put the game beyond the home side with Jordi Alba reducing the arrears for Martino’s men 10 minutes from time.

Former Harambee Stars captain Wanyama was a 68th minute substitute as he replaced Samuel Piette and made an impact by not only shielding the Montreal defence but also starting the move that led to their third goal.

All this while Messi was watching in the stands, having been rested by his coach in a bid to manage his minutes, for the MLS title favourites.

Messi took in the action alongside his wife Antonela Roccuzzo and while cameras focused on him, the luxury timepiece on his wrist could not go unnoticed.

The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner was spotting an 18k rose gold Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711/R watch which is valued at $167,900 (Ksh23,338,100).

The watch features brown dial with rose gold-tone hands and index hour markers, as per watchguynyc.com.

That is pocket change for a man who earns a base salary of $12 million (Ksh1.66 billion) and $20.4m (ksh2.8 billion) in guaranteed compensation.

Messi also receives further payment from his deal with adidas and a share in revenue from Apple TV's MLS season pass whose sum total could reach between $50m (Ksh6.9 billion) and $60m (Ksh8.3 billion) per year, according to the LA Times.

Miami really missed Messi’s creativity against Montreal with his coach defending the move to rest him.

"We talked about it about a week ago and we agreed that this was the game where he had to rest, regardless of what happened in the game with Nashville,” said Martino.

The Argentina captain will likely be back when Miami host Nashville in the return leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 on Thursday with the scores tied 2-2 from the first leg.

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