Messi, dressed casually in a white T-shirt, was in the Inter Miami bench area with his teammates for Wednesday’s match after returning from Peru earlier in the day
Lionel Messi. Pic/AFP
Lionel Messi says he will play in Inter Miami’s season finale on Saturday, although the club hasn’t confirmed that is the actual plan.
Messi, who scored both goals for Argentina in its 2-0 World Cup qualifying win at Peru on Tuesday night, wasn’t in the lineup for Inter Miami’s final home game of its Major League Soccer season against Charlotte on Wednesday night.
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Messi, dressed casually in a white T-shirt, was in the Inter Miami bench area with his teammates for Wednesday’s match after returning from Peru earlier in the day.
Not playing on Wednesday was expected. This part was not: Messi told reporters in Peru that he wants to play once more for Inter Miami before his inaugural MLS season ends, which means he’s intending to play in Charlotte on Saturday—even though that match will be played on artificial turf.
“I’ll play the game that is left now,” said Messi, who played all 90 minutes of Tuesday’s match, a good sign after battling a leg injury for the last several weeks.
The notion of Messi playing might not necessarily be what Charlotte wanted to hear, given what will be at stake on the final day of the regular season.
Charlotte wasted a pair of one-goal leads and tied Miami 2-2 on Wednesday, missing out on a chance to climb from 12th to 8th in the Eastern Conference. The top nine teams in each conference make the playoffs.
Enzo Copetti and Kerwin Vargas scored for Charlotte. Nicolas Stefanelli and Robbie Robinson scored for Inter Miami, which could still thwart Charlotte’s playoff plans with a win on Saturday depending on how other results on Decision Day in MLS goes.
Charlotte stayed 12th, and now needs a win and some help to make the postseason.
Leo earns Rs 169cr annually at Miami
Lionel Messi’s annualised compensation from his Major League Soccer contract with Inter Miami is just over $20.4 million (approx Rs 169 crore), the MLS Players Association said.
Messi earns more than the entire payroll of all but three other MLS teams and twice as much as every player combined on Orlando City.
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