Messi on bench, Ustari red card, 10-man Inter Miami beats Charlotte 1-0 with Allende goal
Lionel Messi returned to the active roster on Sunday after missing back-to-back games, but remained on the bench and watched as 10-man Inter Miami survived the first-half ejection of goalkeeper Oscar Ustari and hung on to beat Charlotte FC 1-0 on a hot, sunny afternoon at Chase Stadium.
The lone goal came from Tadeo Allende in the 46th minute.
The undermanned Miami team caught Charlotte defenders snoozing in the opening minutes of the second half and capitalized. Gonzalo Lujan sent a long ball to Allende, who back-footed it to Luis Suarez, who passed it back to Allende, who scored a golazo to give Inter Miami the lead in the 46th minute. It was the fourth goal for the Argentine winger, who joined the team this season on loan from Spanish Club Celto Vigo.
“The goal was the result of the ingenuity of Tadeo and Luis,” Miami coach Javier Mascherano said. “A lot of times players can have a moment like that and in one play they decide the game. We knew Tadeo is the player who could go deep on either flank. And with that goal early in the second half we were able to then defend and preserve the result.”
With the victory, Inter Miami improved to 2-0-1 and moved up to second place in the Eastern Conference behind the Philadelphia Union.
Fans chanted for Messi several times during the match, but Mascherano chose to leave him out of the game and later explained his decision.
“We thought at some point we could give Leo some minutes, but the way the game went, with a man down and with him having been out for some time, we thought it would be best to save him and not take a risk in that situation,” Mascherano said.
Messi watched intently all afternoon as his teammates tried to break through an organized Charlotte defense that made life difficult for Miami’s midfielders. Things got even tougher in the 38th minute when Ustari was ejected with a red card for making contact with Charlotte forward Wilfried Zaha in what was a sure goal scoring opportunity.
It was the third red card for Inter Miami in three MLS games so far this season. Toto Aviles was tossed in the 23rd minute of the season opener against New York City FC and Ian Fray got a red after the final whistle against Houston, but it was unanimously rescinded by the Pro Referee Organization’s Independent Review Panel. Mascherano said the decisions that lead to cards are made in a split second, but he agreed they need to review each one and try to avoid them in the future.
Down to 10 men, Mascherano took out winger Benja Cremaschi and replaced him with backup goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo, who was the only option as Drake Callender, the co-captain and starter the past few seasons, has not played yet this year as he recovers from an adductor injury.
Miami fans, nervous to see their team down a man, began chanting “Messi! Messi!” at the 43 minute mark, but Messi stayed on the bench. The score remained tied 0-0 at intermission.
During his halftime message to the team, Mascherano reminded the players that they had beaten NYCFC with 10 men and told them they could do it again on Sunday.
Fans chanted for Messi again at the 51-minute mark and the 73-minute mark, but he remained on the bench and never even warmed up.
Mascherano said on Friday that Messi was feeling “much better” from muscular fatigue and had participated in the majority of training the previous few days. Mascherano said earlier that he was told by the medical staff that Messi did not have an injury but was dealing with muscle overload/strain from playing three games over a span of seven days.
Messi was held out of the 4-1 road win against Houston Dynamo Mar. 2 and the 2-0 win over Jamaican club Cavalier Thursday in the Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16.
Winning without Messi and with only 10 men was extremely gratifying for Mascherano.
“There is no better feeling than winning like that,” Mascherano said. “Obviously, when the team plays well and scores a lot of goals, we are all happy. But I greatly value the effort the players made and especially their defensive organization. We gave Charlotte the ball a few times in the second half, they had height and got in some dangerous situations, but we defended well.”
The Miami Starting XI was: Oscar Ustari, Gonzalo Lujan, Toto Aviles, Noah Allen, Jordi Alba, Yannick Bright, Sergio Busquets (captain), Telasco Segovia, Benja Cremaschi, Tadeo Allende and Luis Suarez.
Ian Fray replaced Aviles at halftime. In the 60th minute, Fede Redondo came in for Suarez and David Ruiz replaced Segovia. The final substitution came in the 81st minute when David Martinez went in for Allende, ensuring that Messi would not get in the game.
Maxi Falcon (quad bruise), Fafa Picault (hamstring), Robert Taylor (hamstring), Marcelo Weigandt (hamstring), were not on the roster.
Inter Miami is 5-0-1 so far this season across all competitions with a road trip to Jamaica for Thursday’s second leg of the Champions Cup against Cavalier. The 35,000-seat National Stadium in Kingston is sold out in anticipation of Messi’s arrival, which is being billed as the biggest club game there since Pele visited in 1971. It remains to be seen whether Messi will play.
Asked to evaluate his team thus far this season, Mascherano said: “We have to keep our resilience. [Sunday] we showed a lot of team spirit and we need to continue this way. Maybe we think we are nice and beautiful. We are wrong. We need to work hard. It’s a long season for us.
“We have a tough game Thursday. It will be difficult in Jamaica. So, we have to be ready. It’s not easy. We are playing every three or four days. We are tired. The squad is not too deep. We have some injuries. But we keep going forward. In futbol we have two ways: excuses or results. We have to choose results.”
This story was originally published March 9, 2025 at 4:05 PM.