Despite the fact that Inter Miami has not officially acknowledged it, Lionel Messi has stated he will participate in the season finale on Saturday.
Messi missed Inter Miami’s final home match of the Major League Soccer season against Charlotte on Wednesday night. Messi had two goals for Argentina in its 2-0 World Cup qualification victory over Peru on Tuesday night.
After arriving from Peru earlier in the day, Messi joined his colleagues on the Inter Miami bench area for Wednesday’s game. He was wearing a white T-shirt casually.
Wednesday’s absence was anticipated. This bit wasn’t: Messi said to reporters in Peru that he wanted to play one more time for Inter Miami before his first MLS season came to a close, which implies he intends to play in Charlotte on Saturday even though that game will be played on artificial turf.
The MLS playoff race for Inter Miami was ended earlier this month. Earlier this week, manager Gerardo “Tata” Martino stated that there was “a chance” Messi may play on Saturday and that the squad will assess his physical condition after he returned to Miami following the qualifying matches with Argentina.
Even the prospect of seeing Messi play seemed to significantly increase ticket sales. The Charlotte Observer reported on Wednesday that Charlotte has sold more than 60,000 tickets for the game scheduled for Saturday at its 74,000-seat stadium.
The MLS Players Association announced that Messi’s annualized salary under his MLS contract with the organization is just over $20.4 million on the same day as Inter Miami’s home finale.
That is twice as much as every single player on Orlando City and more than the entire payroll of every MLS team save for three.
According to the players association’s 2023 salary update, the 36-year-old superstar earns a $12 million basic salary and $20,446,667 in total guaranteed compensation. Messi’s 2 1/2-year contract with Inter Miami, which extends until the 2025 season, is estimated to be worth $150 million.
Any supplementary agreements with the team or its affiliates, as well as any performance bonuses, are not taken into consideration in the MLS statistics.
Messi would not have been able to play in Wednesday’s game because of his commitment to Argentina for World Cup qualifying. The game had to be moved because both teams advanced far in the Leagues Cup event.
It was expected that Inter Miami wouldn’t take any extra chances with Messi, the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner and finest player in the world, as Saturday had no bearing on the standings. When the winner of this year’s prize is revealed in Paris on October 30, it appears highly likely that Messi will make history and win it an unprecedented eight times.
In 13 games this season with Inter Miami, Messi has scored 11 goals. When he plays, the squad has an 8-1-4 record; seven of those games were during the team’s quest to capture its first-ever trophy by winning the Leagues Cup. Additionally, he has participated in one U.S. Open Cup semifinal and five MLS games.
