Lionel Messi walked out from behind a curtain, took a few steps along a rain-slicked runaway set up over the field at Inter Miami’s stadium and headed toward David Beckham for a big hug.

His journey was complete. Inter Miami’s wait was over.

At long last, Messi has arrived.

Inter Miami — after years of plotting, pleading and hoping — introduced arguably the game’s biggest star on Sunday night, presenting their new franchise player with his pink No. 10 jersey that millions of people will be buying over the coming weeks and months.

“We are going to have a good time and great things are going to happen,” Messi taiold the crowd.

Sunday was the first one. Almost every seat was filled despite horrible weather conditions that delayed the show, and nobody seemed to mind soaking rain that pounded down throughout the evening.

“I’m very much moved to be here in Miami, to be with you,” Messi said. “I want to thank you, all of you, on behalf of my family, for the kindness that you have given me. I can’t wait to start training to compete. I feel the same desire I’ve always had to compete, to really want to win and to help it (Miami) continue to grow.”

Beckham, the team’s co-owner and president, had huge dark blotches on his blue blazer because of the rain.

It was going to take more than a downpour to ruin this party, one where fans roared and music boomed.

“Tonight (Sunday) is a typical Miami welcome for one of the greatest players to ever have played the game,” Beckham said during the telecast of the show. “The fact that we have our fans in here, celebrating this moment ... this is what we have created and we’re very proud of that.”

When Inter Miami began floating the notion that they would be the team to land Messi and bring the World Cup champion to Major League Soccer, there were no shortage of people who were, to put it mildly, sceptical about how realistic a plan that was.

Among them: MLS Commissioner Don Garber. Yes, even the man running the league had a bit of doubt.

Not anymore. Messi to Miami isn’t just crazy talk. It happened, with Messi now tasked to lift the team that currently has the fewest points in the MLS standings and is mired in an 11-game winless streak.

“Here we are with a player that is not only a generational player but in my opinion the greatest of all time,” Garber said.