Lionel Messi was seen getting a new haircut in Miami before quickly flying to Paris for Monday’s Ballon d’Or celebration, where he will win the sport’s top award for a record eighth time. 

The 36-year-old World Cup winner took a picture with his barber, Luis Andres Rivera, on Sunday in Vice City to show off his new haircut. He had his hands in his pockets the whole time.

Rivera wrote on Instagram, “Pulling off the biggest [G.O.A.T] @leomessi off ready for tomorrow.” “Special day when he will win his Ballon d’Or number 8 in the name of God.”Because you always trust me, Leo, you gave me the chance to make what might be the biggest cut of my career. 

“THE WORLD WILL SEE IT.” Messi was seen resting in Naples, Florida, earlier on Sunday with his wife Antonela and his ex-Navy SEAL bodyguard. Their three kids, Mateo, 10, Thiago, 7, and Ciro, 5, were not with them. 

Messi has won seven Ballon d’Or awards, and no one else has won more than five.

Earlier this month, Pep Guardiola, the boss of Manchester City, said that both Messi and Erling Haaland, his best player, deserve the award. 

Guardiola, who trained Messi at Barcelona, said, “I always said that the Ballon d’Or had to be split into two parts: one for Messi and one for everyone else.” 

This will be Messi’s 14th time coming in the top three, which is another record. He won it while playing for Barcelona, then again while playing for Paris Saint-Germain, and now he’s set to win it while playing for Inter Miami. If he does, it will be the first time an MLS player has won it in this way. 

“It’s fun to play with him and share moments with him,” said Jordi Alba, who has played with Messi for a long time and now plays for Inter Miami with him. While Messi’s first season (or really first half-season) in Miami was mostly successful, there was one area where it fell short. They won their first trophy, the League Cup, thanks to Messi’s leadership. He even let Yedlin, the previous captain, lift the trophy, even though he was captain, to show the humility that his friends talk about.

People went to a lot more games, Inter Miami’s presence on soccer’s social media sites grew, people were watching a lot more on Apple TV, and Messi’s No. 10 jersey became the most popular item in MLS. 

He makes between $50 million and $60 million a season with Inter Miami, thanks to the different ways they make money. (To the dismay of many fans, season tickets for 2024 are also much more expensive.) 

But illness and general wear and tear hurt, and the fact that Inter Miami had to play so many Leagues Cup games probably made things worse. “It was really tough for us because we had to play every three days, travel, and train,” Messi said. 

Messi missed a lot of the team’s late-season MLS games because of an injury to his leg. The club missed the league playoffs by a large margin, but to be fair, it wasn’t even close to making the playoffs before Messi came in July. 

They are already getting ready for 2024 and will soon start training for two shows in China in early November. And when the new year comes around, everyone will expect Inter Miami to win all of its trophies, including the MLS Cup, the Leagues Cup, the U.S. Open Cup, and the CONCACAF Champions Cup. 

“The holidays in Argentina will be fun for me. It will be the first time I have a lot of fun in December, with my people,” Messi told reporters after an earlier this month match for Argentina. “After that, I’ll come back during the off-season, start over, and always prepare for the best outcomes.”