Lionel Messi Gets Absolutely Mobbed By Fans As He Leaves Publix

Earlier this week I wrote about the significance of soccer great Lionel Messi moving to Miami and taking not only his talents, but his celebrity status to Major League Soccer's Inter Miami.

I mentioned how not only could Messi help grow soccer's popularity, but that he could also go the way of Ronda Rousey, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson or John Cena in transitioning from their respective sport to Hollywood and pop culture.

I just didn't know it would happen this fast.

MESSI AND HIS FAMILY WENT TO PUBLIX

Video's gone viral of Messi trying to leave a local Miami Publix with his family. The scene is absolute madness. I'm talking Beatlesmania, Taylor Swift like craze - and Messi's only been in town for a month!

I mean, just look at that! I understand celebrities are in the public spotlight and are used to getting noticed everywhere, but this is just straight up crazy. You gotta feel bad for his family too - some of those kids could barely get into the car,. They looked like they were about to be swallowed up by the massive mob that began pushing towards Messi.

The scene was a dramatic change from just two weeks ago when Messi made his first trip to Publix to pick up groceries.

At the time, people were joking about Messi being a man of the people - "he's just like us," Saturday morning grocery store dads said. But with today's newest video and the sheer lunacy that surrounded it, that's likely no longer the case. Congratulations to those psychopaths down in Miami - you just made it more difficult to ever actually get to see Messi randomly around town, let alone make him feel welcomed.

Let's just hope the madness doesn't affect his dominant play so far.