Lionel Messi did not play in Inter Miami’s 0-0 draw with Orlando City on Wednesday night at Inter & Co Stadium, after suffering an injury to his left knee during his team’s 3-2 MLS win over Montreal on Saturday.
Montreal defender George Campbell fouled Messi in the 40th minute of the match, forcing the forward to go down while holding his knee. Miami’s medical team rushed to the scene before clearing Messi to play the rest of the game.
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Despite his participation throughout the 90 minutes, Miami assistant coach Javier Morales confirmed Messi “felt the knock” while doing regenerative work on Monday.
Robert Taylor replaced Messi in Gerardo “Tata” Martino’s starting XI. Jordi Alba, who had been out for five weeks after leaving Miami’s 3-2 win against Sporting Kansas City on April 13, came on as a substitute in the 64th minute.
The result keeps Miami in first place in the Eastern Conference on 28 points from 14 games, while the point leaves Orlando in 10th place.
Prior to the game against Orlando, Morales said of Messi: “He suffered a hit to the knee on Saturday versus Montréal, he continued playing through the end of the game and then iced it when finished. He trained with the players [on Tuesday] who did regenerative work, with the bicycle and a bit of jogging on the field.”
However, after evaluating Messi following the training session, the team decided against his participation in the game against Orlando. The forward previously missed a stretch of games for Miami early in the season, sitting out MLS and Concacaf Champions Cup action from March 13 to April 6 due to a muscle injury.
Since Messi made his debut, the team is 2-4-6 (WDL) in all competitions when he does not play and 15-7-3 when he does. Inter Miami currently leads the Eastern Conference table with 27 points in 13 games as Messi rewrites league history books with his 12 goals and 13 assists to start the season.