Messi expected to play opener at LAFC, Inter Miami younger, faster in 2026
Here is a sobering thought for Inter Miami opponents as the 2026 MLS season gets underway this weekend: Lionel Messi’s pink-clad team could be stronger than it was last season, when it outscored opponents 16-2 in the playoffs to win the club’s first MLS Cup trophy.
Miami’s new look, younger, faster team will make its season debut at 9:30 p.m. Saturday in a highly anticipated match on the road against Los Angeles FC at the historic 77,500-seat LA Coliseum.
The match will feature the first clash between Messi and LAFC’s dynamic duo of Son Heung-Min and Denis Bouanga.
Messi was back at training on Wednesday after missing last week due to a hamstring strain. He is expected to be available for the opening match on Saturday.
There were questions whether Messi would be fit for the season opener after the club postponed a planned preseason friendly in Puerto Rico last week due to his injury. Messi, the 38-year-old Argentine icon, is being extra cautious this year with the Concacaf Champions Cup coming up in March and the World Cup in June.
Messi has been the most impactful player in MLS since his arrival in July 2023, winning back-to-back MLS MVP trophies. This year, his supporting cast got younger and quicker.
Coach Javier Mascherano made a bold move during the post-season, benching star forward (and Messi’s close friend) Luis Suarez and flanking Messi with the younger, quicker Tadeo Allende and Mateo Silvetti, giving the team a more vertical attack that was able to sprint behind defenders.
This season, Mascherano will have even more options with the addition of 27-year-old Mexican Argentine striker German Berterame, who joined Miami from Mexican club Monterrey in a $15 million transfer.
“Berterame gives you athleticism, legs, instinctual finishes, both right foot and left foot,” Apple TV lead MLS analyst Taylor Twellman said this week on the Miami Herald’s Inside Inter Miami podcast.
“He’s just a goal scorer. He’s got it in his blood. It’s something you can’t teach, that sixth sense, wherever the ball is going to be. I love this signing because you’ve got a real vertical, active player full of ingenuity which will allow Messi to play as a 10, a false nine, and that’s where he was so good in the playoffs.”
Mascherano said Berterame’s versatility makes him special.
“He is a player that can play outside, inside, as a forward or a winger,” Mascherano said Wednesday. “That’s what we were looking for, players who give us different options in the attack. Clearly, this year we have more options in the final third and that will allow us to play different ways. As a coach, I prefer to have more options.”
Berterame finally got his visa after weeks of waiting, trained with the team this week and will be able to play on Saturday. He was eligible to play in a preseason game in Ecuador (during which he scored) because it was not on U.S. soil, but he had been unable to practice with the team in South Florida until this week.
Inter Miami enters the 2026 season with high hopes and a new look after the retirement of Spanish legends Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. The club is also eagerly anticipating the April 4 opening of the $350 million Miami Freedom Park Stadium, a 25,000-seat venue adjacent to Miami International Airport.
Miami will play its first five league games on the road while the stadium is completed.
Berterame is one of several new players on the roster, along with MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Dayne St. Clair, Brazilian center back Micael, Argentine midfielder David Ayala, Argentine right back Facundo Mura and Spanish left back Sergio Reguilon, who injured his knee in the first preseason game and is out indefinitely.
Messi and his team enter the season as favorites to defend their title.
“I think they’re better on paper, I really do,” Twellman said. “They’re younger. They’re more athletic. I think that’s massive for the kind of competition and onslaught of early season, difficult games that they’re going to play. I also think they’re a little bit deeper.”
Busquets was 37 years old last season and Alba was 36. Departed goalkeeper Oscar Ustari was 39 and forward Fafa Picault, who signed with Atlanta United this week, was 34. None of Miami’s new players are over 30. Berterame is 27, Mura is 26, Ayala is 23, Micael is 25 and Reguilon is 29.
The team will have more speed and versatility across the field this season, and more flexibility in the attack.
Luis Suarez, the oldest player on the team at 39, signed for one final season and can still link up with Messi up front as he has for so many years, but the team will not rely on him as much.
“Luis is an important player, I have said it a thousand times, not only for the team but for the club,” Mascherano said, when asked how Suarez’s role might change. “We will treat him as such. He can help us in many ways.”
Miami will also get extra energy and youthful legs with the signing of 23-year-old David Ayala, who spent the past four years with the Portland Timbers. Ayala considers Mascherano one of his idols and got to play alongside him during Mascherano’s final season with Argentine club Estudiantes.
“I learned so much from him,” Ayala said of his new coach. “When he got to Estudiantes, the team rose to another level. Him being here was one reason I decided to come here. And, of course, playing with Leo [Messi] was 90 percent, no I’m kidding. There were other reasons. This is much closer to my family in Argentina. Portland was very far. The climate, after so long in Portland, I was ready for a change of environment.”
The addition of Ayala, with his boundless energy, will make the team more dynamic.
“Now, you have a real luxury because you can play Suarez if you have Rodrigo De Paul, David Ayala, Yannick Bright, guys who can run and chase and cover a ton of ground,” Twellman said. “Now, you can play at times with both Suarez and Messi. As good as Busquets was with the ball at his feet, he couldn’t move, so Mascherano knew he couldn’t win with Suarez and Busquets at the same time.”
Cincinnati, Vancouver, LAFC, San Diego, Seattle, Columbus are all expected to be contenders this season. Orlando City and Atlanta United, with the return of coach Tata Martino, could also be in the mix.
But, if Messi remains healthy through the grueling World Cup year, Miami remains the favorite.
“When you’re a defending champion, you have Messi, and your team got better in the off-season, you’d be an idiot not to say they’re the favorite,” Twellman said. “But a lot can happen.”
INTER MIAMI 2026 ROSTER
GOALKEEPERS
97 Dayne St. Clair (Canada/Trinidad and Tobago) Age: 28
13 Luis Barraza (USA) Age: 29
34 Rocco Ríos Novo (Argentina/USA) Age: 23
DEFENDERS
3 Sergio Reguilón (Spain) Age: 29
4 Facundo Mura (Argentina) Age: 26
16 Micael (Brazil) Age: 25
Abdel Talabi (USA) Age: 24
2 Gonzalo Luján (Argentina/Spain) Age: 24
17 Ian Fray (Jamaica/USA) Age: 23
26 Tyler Hall (USA) Age: 20
32 Noah Allen (Greece/USA) Age: 21
37 Maximiliano Falcón (Uruguay) Age: 28
62 Israel Boatwright (Dominican Republic/USA) Age: 20
MIDFIELDERS
20 Santiago Morales (Argentina) Age: 19
7 Rodrigo De Paul (Argentina) Age: 31
22 David Ayala (Argentina) Age: 23
98 Kenan Hot (USA) Age: 21
88 Alexander Shaw (USA) Age: 17
96 Mamadi Jiana (USA) Age: 23
8 Telasco Segovia (Venezuela) Age: 22
41 David Ruiz (Honduras/USA) Age: 22
42 Yannick Bright (Italy/USA) Age: 24
FORWARDS
19 Germán Berterame (Mexico/Argentina) Age: 27
21 Tadeo Allende (Argentina) Age: 26
9 Luis Suárez (Uruguay) Age: 39
10 Lionel Messi (Argentina) Age: 38
24 Mateo Silvetti (Argentina) Age: 20
56 Daniel Pinter (USA) Age: 18
INTER MIAMI 2026 SCHEDULE
2/21@LAFC 9:30 pm Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (Apple TV)
2/26 vs Independiente del Valle in Puerto Rico 7 p.m. (Rescheduled friendly)
3/1 @Orlando City 7 pm Inter&Co Stadium (Apple TV)
3/7 @D.C. United 4:30 pm M&T Bank Stadium (Apple TV)
3/11 TBA, Concacaf Champions Cup (FS2, TUDN)
3/14 @Charlotte 7:30 pm Bank of America Stadium (Apple TV)
3/18 TBA, Concacaf Champions Cup 7 pm Inter Miami CF Stadium (FS2, TUDN)
3/22 @New York City FC 1 pm Yankee Stadium (Apple TV)
4/4 Miami Freedom Park Grand Opening vs. Austin FC 7:30 pm (Apple TV)
4/11 vs. New York Red Bulls 7:30 pm Miami Freedom Park (Apple TV)
4/18 @Colorado Rapids 4:30 pm Empower Field at Mile High (Apple TV)
4/22 @Real Salt Lake 9:30 pm America First Field (Apple TV)
4/25 vs. New England Revolution 7:30 p.m. Miami Freedom Park (Apple TV)
5/2 vs. Orlando City 7 p.m. Miami Freedom Park (Apple TV, FS1)
5/9 @Toronto FC 1 p.m. BMO Field (Apple TV)
5/13 @Cincinnati 7:30 pm TQL Stadium (Apple TV)
5/17 vs Portland Timbers 6 p.m. Miami Freedom Park (Apple TV)
5/24 vs Philadelphia Union 7 p.m. Miami Freedom Park (Apple TV, FOX)
WORLD CUP BREAK
7/22 vs. Chicago Fire 7:30 p.m. Miami Freedom Park (Apple TV)
7/25 @CF Montréal 7:30 p.m. Stade Saputo (Apple TV)
8/1 vs. Columbus Crew 7:30 p.m. Miami Freedom Park (Apple TV)
8/15 @Nashville SC 8: 30 p.m. GEODIS Park (Apple TV)
8/19 @Philadelphia Union 7:30 p.m. Subaru Park (Apple TV)
8/22 vs. Toronto FC 7:30 p.m. Miami Freedom Park (Apple TV)
8/29 vs. CF Montreal 7:30 p.m. Miami Freedom Park (Apple TV)
9/5 vs. Atlanta United 7:30 p.m. Miami Freedom Park (Apple TV)
9/9 @Chicago Fire 8:30 p.m. Soldier Field (Apple TV)
9/12 vs. Nashville SC 7:30 p.m. Miami Freedom Park (Apple TV)
9/20 vs. San Diego Union 7 p.m. Miami Freedom Park (Apple TV)
9/27 @Columbus Crew 7 p.m. ScottsMiracle-Gro Field (Apple TV)
10/10 vs. DC United 7:30 p.m. Miami Freedom Park (Apple TV)
10/14 vs. NYCFC 7:30 p.m. Miami Freedom Park (Apple TV)
10/17 @Atlanta United 7:30 p.m. Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Apple TV)
10/24 @NY Red Bulls 4:30 p.m. Sports Illustrated Stadium (Apple TV)
10/28 vs. FC Cincinnati 7:30 p.m. Miami Freedom Park (Apple TV)
11/1 @New England Revolution 7 p.m. Gillette Stadium (Apple TV)
11/7 vs. Charlotte FC 4 p.m. Miami Freedom Park (Apple TV)
Ticket Information: intermiamicf.com/tickets and ticketmaster.com
This story was originally published February 18, 2026 at 11:16 AM.