Lionel Messi's decision to come to the United States and play in Major League Soccer as arguably the greatest player in the sport's history gave the

The Inter Miami star's $20.4 million in total compensation for 2024 dwarfs the team payrolls of most MLS franchises.

Lionel Messi earned more than the entire payrolls of 22 other Major League Soccer teams, and Olivier Giroud has a $3,675,000 in annualized total compensation under the contract he signed to join Los Angeles FC in July.

Inter Miami, which set the MLS records for most points and best winning percentage in the regular season, gets a big challenge right out of the gate in the playoffs by facing an Atlanta team in a best-of-three Eastern Conference first-round series. Messi is coming off a hat trick in the regular-season finale, a 6-2 romp past New England.

Apple is making Lionel Messi's first MLS playoff match free and as widely available as possible across 100 countries and countless devices, the company said.

Five teams have a new top earner: Atlanta United ( Aleksey Miranchuk, $3.7 million), the Chicago Fire ( Hugo Cuypers, $3.5 million), the LA Galaxy ( Riqui Puig, $4.6 million), Los Angeles FC ( Olivier Giroud, $3.68 million) and St. Louis City ( Marcel Hartel, $2.2 million).

The Argentine legend's $12 million base salary and $20,446,667 in total compensation from Inter Miami topped MLS by a wide margin.

Messi had three goals — his first MLS hat trick — and an assist in the span of about 30 minutes, Luis Suarez scored twice and Inter Miami rolled past New England 6-2 on Saturd

The field is set. Here are the teams advancing to the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs. Wild-card matches are Oct. 3. Check out the full schedule and bracket.