Lionel Messi rested for Inter Miami’s game at Charlotte FC – source

Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano has determined to relaxation captain Lionel Messi for Saturday’s MLS common-season match at Charlotte F.C. on Saturday evening at Bank of America Stadium, a source confirmed to ESPN.

The option to relaxation Messi comes from Mascherano, and never on account of any present damage.

The Argentine captain final performed for Inter Miami on Wednesday evening towards Nashville SC within the first leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup spherical of 16, drawing 0-0 at GEODIS Park. Messi performed all the match.

Messi’a Miami and Argentina teammate Rodrigo DePaul will even be absent from Saturday evening’s motion, a source confirmed to ESPN.

Messi and de Paul each fashioned a part of the earlier Inter Miami squad that performed at Bank of America Stadium in September 2025, when the crew fell 3-0 in Charlotte. The stadium’s synthetic grass didn’t play a decisive function in Mascherano’s game-day squad, with Messi, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and De Paul all that includes within the common season match.

Following Saturday’s game, Inter Miami will host Nashville for the second-leg match on March 18 at Chase Stadium for a ticket to the match’s quarterfinals.

Although Mascherano beforehand admitted the Concacaf Champions Cup is a precedence for Inter Miami, the coach has insisted he will likely be treating all competitions equally all year long.

“We’re not a team that chooses which competitions to play in; we’re obliged to compete in all of them,” he mentioned. Clearly, the Champions League is the one competitors the membership usually performs in that we’re lacking, and it is producing quite a lot of pleasure for all of us. Now, what we won’t permit is for this to change into an obsession. It’s one factor to be excited, one other to be obsessed.”

Inter Miami at present boasts six factors in MLS after incomes two wins and one loss to begin the 2026 marketing campaign.