Lionel Messi made a brief 37-minute appearance in his comeback game for Inter Miami before being substituted as his teammates secured a convincing 4-0 victory over Toronto FC. The Argentine, who sat out Miami's 5-2 loss to Atlanta over the weekend due to fatigue, may be sidelined for the upcoming US Open Cup final against Houston Dynamo. Manager Gerardo Martino revealed that the 36-year-old is nursing a longstanding injury. Despite his absence from Argentina's recent match against Bolivia, Messi remains a seven-time Ballon d'Or recipient.
Messi’s former Barcelona team-mate Jordi Alba also suffered an injury against Toronto and Martino said both players would definitely miss Sunday’s game against Orlando City.
“There is no chance they will be there on Sunday,” said Martino.
“I know we have a final to play [on Wednesday] but they won’t go near the pitch if they can’t play.”
Since Lionel Messi joined the MLS club in July after departing from Paris St-Germain at the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, Miami has maintained an undefeated record in all 11 matches he has played. Although the scoreline was even at 0-0 when captain Messi was substituted against Toronto, his replacement, Robert Taylor, netted two goals, while Facundo Farias and Benjamin Cremaschi also contributed to a commanding victory.
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“The scans [Messi] had with the national team, they didn’t show any injury. We still saved him to be safe,” Martino said.
“We don’t think he has a muscular injury. That’s also from a conversation I just had with him.
“But we have to continue being careful. We’ll look at it the next few days.”
Argentina manager Scaloni said Messi did not feature for his country last week because he “was not ready to play” and the World Cup winner “did not feel comfortable”.
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