Lionel Messi went out on Saturday night the Leagues Cup match against visiting Necaxa in the 11th minute due to a right leg injury. After Inter Miami finished his 2-2 draw, manager Javier Mascherano declared that Messi felt “hamstring discomfort.”
The 38-year-old Messi’s exit stops for an unusual race of clean health, the longest since joining Miami in July 2023.
He had played in every minute of 16 consecutive matches for Miami between MLS regular season and the FIFA Club World Cup Play before his lack of performance in the 2025 MLS All-Star Game resulted in a suspension of one match against FC Cincinnati a week ago.
He returned Wednesday night for the Miamis League Cup opener against Atlas and delivered two assists that led to the game-winner late-in a 2-1 win.
No team scored before Messi’s exit Saturday, although Miamis Telasco Segovia scored shortly thereafter to put Miami ahead. Necaxa took a 2-1 lead with Hegre reduced to 10 men when Marcelo Weigandt was sent out to refuse an obvious goal scoring opportunity, but Inter Miami gathered for the equalization for extra time. The hooks then won 5-4 on penalties.
Messi, an eight-time balloon d’Or winner, has not scored in the Leagues Cup. But in MLS -Leg he is tied to the league with 18 goals.
Messi’s running with consecutive performance was in sharp contrast to his first two MLS seasons, where he missed significant parts of the regular seasonal game.
After playing all seven matches of Miamis ran to the 2023 Leagues Cup title, less suffering Messi limited to only six performances among Miami’s last 12 seasonal matches of the season that year.
He also dealt with several problems in 2024, with the most pronounced being an extended improvement from a torn leg muscle that was maintained while playing for Argentina during the 2024 Copa America final on July.
He played only 19 games in his first full MLS season, but he still scored 20 goals and had 16 assists to earn the league’s 2024 MVP prize.
