Messi will miss next game after exiting early from Inter Miami 4-0 win over Toronto FC
A new-look, clean-shaven Lionel Messi returned to the Inter Miami lineup Wednesday night for the first time in nearly three weeks, but lasted only 37 minutes before being subbed out, much earlier than the near-sellout crowd at DRV PNK Stadium expected.
He complained of discomfort from scar tissue of an old leg injury, it is not believed to be serious, but he will not play on the road Sunday against Orlando City, said coach Tata Martino.
Messi’s teammates carried on just fine without him, winning 4-0 over last-place Toronto FC on a pair of golazos from flashy Finnish winger Robert Taylor and goals from young Argentine newcomer Facundo Farias and Key Biscayne teenager Benjamin Cremaschi.
With the victory, Miami inched up to 13th place in the Eastern Conference standings with 31 points, five points shy of D.C. United, which holds the final playoff spot. Miami has six games remaining and D.C. has just four. Inter Miami controls its destiny against all the teams that stand between them and the playoff line.
Messi and Jordi Alba were back in the starting lineup after staying home from the 5-2 road loss to Atlanta United last Saturday citing fatigue, but both left the field before halftime. Alba was replaced by Noah Allen in the 33rd minute.
Martino said Messi told him he was dealing with scar tissue from an old injury that was bothering him, but it does not appear to be anything muscular or serious. He said that Messi and Alba, who is fatigued, would not play on the road Sunday against Orlando City and that they would be evaluated with hopes they could play in the U.S. Open Cup final Wednesday against Houston Dynamo.
As soon as the former FC Barcelona teammates left the game, conjecture began on social media. Were they injured? Just tired? Was it planned they would leave after 30 minutes to save them for next week?
“It was not the plan for (Messi and Alba) to come out that early, though we knew they probably wouldn’t finish the game,” Martino said after the game. “They were fatigued and not ready to play in the Atlanta game, but we did tests in subsequent days and they came out fine. The players said they were ready for this game. I spoke to both and they said it is nothing new, fatigue, nothing muscular. We just have to evaluate them day by day.”
Martino added that all indications were they were ready to play. “If they were young players, maybe someone could say the coaches pressured them to play after the loss to Atlanta, but we’re talking about Messi and Alba. There is no possibility I would have played them if there was a chance they were injured. I don’t want them or any players injured. They probably needed 45 or 60 minutes to be in a good rhythm heading into the (U.S. Open Cup), but I was being cautious.”
The coach explained that when Messi first signaled to him from the field, he thought he was asking to come off, but he was letting Martino know Alba needed to exit. “Then a few minutes later, there was an offensive play when Messi went from the left to the center and that is where that old scar bothered him and then he looked at me and that was the moment (he came off).
“I am more more optimistic about their chance to play in the cup final after speaking with them following the game than I was when they came off the field.”
Martino had stressed in the leadup to Wednesday’s game that Messi and Alba were exhausted after playing 14 games in 48 days and that “one of my responsibilities as the coach is to care for my players and help them make the hard decisions that will give us the best chance of keeping everyone healthy during this busy run.”
Inter Miami has three games over the next 10 days, including the road game Sunday against Orlando and the U.S. Open Cup final Wednesday against the Houston Dynamo. Martino has said the Cup final is a priority as it is a chance to win a second trophy in a month for a club that never had won one.
“We will keep monitoring them, talking to the medical staff, but obviously, there is no chance they will play on Sunday,” said Martino.
Farias gave the home fans a sigh of relief and something to celebrate just before halftime, knocking a ball into the upper right corner to take a 1-0 lead as Messi celebrated from the bench.
Martino opted to start Josef Martinez at forward instead of Leo Campana, who had scored seven goals in the previous six games. Campana came off the bench in the 65th minute along with Cremaschi and Dixon Arroyo, replacing Martinez, David Ruiz and Tomas Aviles.
Taylor’s first goal came in the 54th minute, and he worked hard to get it. He collected a pass from Allen on the left side of the box, dribbled back along the perimeter of the box and to the right side, evading four Toronto defenders, and then unleashed a right-footed rocket into the net.
Taylor then provided the assist on Cremashi’s 73rd-minute blast, also from the right side. And then Taylor put the exclamation point on the night in the 87th minute with a shot from a difficult angle to the right center of the goal. Farias had the assist.
“It’s very important for us to win when they’re not on the field, they’re the most important players for us,” said Taylor. “But we have to play without them sometimes, so it’s important for the rest of us to step up and get the results.”
Among the fans who showed up to see Messi were three Houston fathers and their 10-year-old sons, who traveled more than 1,000 miles for the game.
Gabriel Sandoval, Chris Chasteen and Kristian Schlotter decided to buy tickets several months ago, when rumors were swirling that Messi was planning to sign with Inter Miami. Their sons, Carter Sandoval, Rylan Chasteen and Jayden Morgan, are teammates on HTX Soccer in Houston and are diehard Messi fans. They all showed up in Messi No. 10 Inter Miami jerseys and sat in the second row.
“We decided to go out on a limb and buy the tickets, and we got lucky that Messi signed and is playing this game,” said Chris Chasteen. At least 37 minutes of it, anyway.
