Houston Dynamo hosted Inter Miami CF at the Shell Energy Stadium on the evening of 2nd March. This was the second match for both the clubs in the new MLS season. The match ended 4-1 in Inter Miami’s favour with goals from Telasco Segovia, Tadeo Allende and Luis Suarez. However a major highlight of the game was the absence of star player Lionel Messi. Miami’s head coach and former teammate of Lionel Messi; Javier Mascherano stated that Messi’s absence was not due to injury but because of load-management reasons as the team wanted to look out for the player’s well-being through what will be a long season.
The absence of the star man meant that fans who brought tickets to the game weren’t happy with the situation. The sold-out stadium in Houston was highly anticipated to watch Leo Messi take the field in the upcoming game. After Messi was not included in the official squad released by the club, Houston Dynamo released a statement saying that they do not have any control over the opposing team squad. They also assured fans by saying that whoever attended today’s game would be issued complimentary tickets.
The ‘Messi-effect’ is unreal
This isn’t the first time that fans of the opposing team have been left frustrated when some members of Inter Miami’s star-studded team aren’t playing. Back in 2023 when Inter Miami was due to play Chicago Fires, more than 61,000 fans were waiting to see the World-Cup winner play. However when Messi was left out of the travelling squad for that game, it generated a lot of reactions from the angry fans. The Chicago Fires eventually offered rebates for future games for the fans who had brought tickets to that game.
Lionel Messi joined Inter Miami in July 2023 after leaving his boyhood club FC Barcelona. Since then he has changed the landscape of MLS football by attracting tens of thousands of fans to watch games. Along with this, there have been numerous other high-profile players who have followed Messi’s footsteps and have joined other MLS clubs. Some of his own former Barca team-mates including Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba have joined Inter Miami.
