Lionel Messi won’t play as Inter Miami host Montreal

Lionel Messi had the day off on Sunday as Inter Miami lost 3-2 to CF Montreal, while teammates Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets were left out of the starting lineup but came on in the second half .

It was Miami's first loss of the season.

The 36-year-old Argentine star has played every minute of Miami's three MLS matches so far in 2024, as well as in the Concacaf Champions League tie against Nashville SC on Thursday, and assistant coach Javier Morales hinted on Saturday that Messi would be rested. before the return match against Nashville.

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“We all know Leo and he is a player who wants to play every game,” Morales said during a press briefing on Saturday. “I think we will have a conversation with him, see how he feels, see how he is doing and try to decide what is best for him because he has played 90 minutes in every game and we will make the best decision thinking in the future.”

Messi scored to help Miami salvage a 2-2 draw against Nashville, but also suffered a hard tackle on the shin late in the match. Morales said it was just a “blip” and was not a factor in whether he would play on Sunday, although Messi was later officially listed as doubtful with a shin problem in MLS Player Status Report.

Suarez, who scored Miami's other goal against Nashville on Thursday, found himself in a similar position to Messi having also started all four games this season. And the 37-year-old was left out of the starting lineup, but came on as a substitute in the second half with Miami trailing 3-1.

“Luis is doing well, he played all the games and scored two goals in the last home game and one goal [on Thursday]”, Morales said before the match. “The injury is fine and he is fit to play.

“But what we talked about earlier, Luis, Leo, all the players played a lot of minutes, especially in this stretch of matches, and we have to manage that as best we can because it's a long season and we're just getting started. We can't do anything crazy. Like Leo, we will talk to Luis and see what is best for the team.

Another former Barcelona player, Jordi Alba, was in the lineup against Montreal and scored a nice goal in a comeback attempt for Miami that failed.

Miami will host Nashville on Wednesday in the second leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup round of 16 match.