FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Lionel Messi is considered day-to-day with fatigue, Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said Thursday night after the Argentine World Cup champion missed his second straight game for rest.
Messi watched Inter Miami beat Cavalier FC 2-0 in the first leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup round-of-16 match in an on-field suite at Chase Stadium with his wife and children.
Mascherano said Messi is not injured, but dealing with the effects of logging significant minutes to start the 2025 season.
Messi predominately played in three matches during a six-day stretch from Feb. 19-26, and eight matches in a 40-day span from Jan. 18 to Feb. 14, including five preseason matches played in Las Vegas, Peru, Panama, Honduras and Tampa, Florida.
“We decided to give him a rest, knowing the risks we run, obviously, of not having the best player in the world,” Mascherano said after the game against Cavalier, the reigning Jamaican Premier League champions.
Mascherano did not divulge whether Messi would play in Inter Miami’s next match, at home against Charlotte FC at 4 p.m. ET on Sunday, or the second leg against Cavalier next Thursday.
Inter Miami will face Cavalier at National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, where a sold-out crowd of 35,000 people are expected to see Messi play.
“Day-to-day,” Mascherano said when asked about Messi’s status for Inter Miami’s next two matches.
“The doctors have told me that he has no injury. … He is fatigued from having played three games in six days,” Mascherano added.
When Inter Miami returns from Jamaica, they will travel to face Atlanta United on March 16 in a rematch of last season’s first-round series in the MLS Cup playoffs, which saw Messi and his side lose in upset fashion.
Messi is also expected to join the Argentine national team for two World Cup qualifying matches later this month. Argentina will visit Uruguay on March 21, then host Brazil on June 25.
Messi’s upcoming schedule with Inter Miami, Argentina
Messi could play in the following six matches with Inter Miami and the Argentina national team later this month:
- March 9: Inter Miami vs. Charlotte, 4 p.m. ET (MLS)
- March 13: Cavalier FC vs. Inter Miami, 8 p.m. ET (Champions Cup)
- March 16: Atlanta vs. Inter Miami, 7 p.m. ET (MLS)
- March 21: Uruguay vs. Argentina, 7:30 p.m. ET (2026 World Cup qualifier)
- March 25: Argentina vs. Brazil, 8 p.m. ET (2026 World Cup qualifier)
- March 29: Inter Miami vs. Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m. ET (MLS)
