"Imagine if Messi started": Fans go gaga as IShowSpeed meets Suarez and other Inter Miami players before match with Al-Nassr

YouTube streamer and Cristiano Ronaldo fan Darren "IShowSpeed" flew to Saudi Arabia today to watch Al-Nassr play Inter Miami in the Riyadh Season Cup 2024. While both Messi and Ronaldo were not starting, the match featured a lot of big footballers, including Sergio Busquets, Suarez, and Jordi Alba. Darren managed to meet all of them before the match began.

The variety streamer is popular for his football streams, and this is not the first time he has traveled across the world from the USA to watch his idol Cristiano Ronaldo play. A known critic of Lionel Messi, IShowSpeed's fans were excited to see his reactions to the game on stream. Sadly, Ronaldo was not playing in the match, and Messi was not in the starting lineup.

Fans were disappointed about the YouTuber missing out on meeting Messi at the beginning of the match. After clips of him meeting the other Inter Miami players went viral, @Cr7Harshal wrote:

"Imagine if Messi started"

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Watch: IShowSpeed's viral moments from the Al-Nassr vs Inter Miami match

As mentioned, Darren is a football fanatic and has garnered a lot of attention from fans all over the globe due to his sports-related streams. Recently, IShowSpeed's IRL Brazil streams showed him interacting with the locals and playing football.

True to fashion, he went to Riyadh to watch the clash between Al-Nassr and Inter Miami. There was much buzz around the match, despite it being a friendly one, because Ronaldo and Messi could have potentially faced each other for perhaps the last time. While that did not happen, the YouTuber did get to meet several Inter Miami players, with clips from his stream going viral on social media.

Although Messi didn't start and Cristiano Ronaldo was off the team due to an injury, the match provided many entertaining moments, and IShowSpeed had various reactions while streaming it while sitting in the audience. Yet another clip of him went viral when Al-Nassr defender Aymeric Laporte scored a spectacular goal from his own half of the field, shocking everyone in the stadium.

The YouTube couldn't believe it himself and turned to the camera and exclaimed:

"Bro, what am I watching!"

When an in-game scuffle broke out, the streamer also got fired up and started shouting in support of Al-Nassr:

"What? What? You want to fight me?"

IShowSpeed got trolled for his reaction by several viewers, with many making fun of him for thinking he is part of the team.

As a Ronaldo fanatic, he also booed loudly when Messi took the field at the 83rd minute of the game.

The streamer could be heard saying:

"Boo! Ronaldo better!"

IShowSpeed also met an Al-Hilal fan and started barking at the kid who had come up to meet him for not supporting Al-Nassr. However, they appeared to find common ground after agreeing that Real Madrid was a good team.

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Fan reactions

Fans were naturally elated to see IShowSpeed streaming from the stadium, with tens of thousands of them tuning in live to watch him. Here are some X posts reacting to his various antics:

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His reaction to Messi taking the field was expected, considering his idol is Cristiano Ronaldo, and the two are often posited as rivals in the footballing world. Last June, IShowSpeed met the Portuguese footballer for the first time before an international match and had a pretty emotional moment.