Messi rejoins Inter Miami, but team ousted from Leagues Cup after loss to Leon
Lionel Messi’s flight from Argentina landed in Fort Lauderdale at 6:12 am Wednesday after he spent a few days with family following his father’s funeral. Fifteen hours after getting off that plane, Messi was on the field with his Inter Miami teammates in a crucial Leagues Cup match against Mexican club Leon at Nu Stadium.
He came off the bench at the start of the second half to a loud ovation in the third and final group stage game of the tournament as Inter Miami fought to stay alive. Messi’s team needed to win by a large margin and get help from several teams above them in the standings.
It did not happen. Inter Miami lost 3-2 and was eliminated from the Leagues Cup in the group stage one year after reaching the final.
After the game, Messi’s teammates praised him for his commitment and devotion to the team in such a trying time of his life.
“It’s incredible, I wasn’t expecting it,” said Yannick Bright, who scored one of Miami’s goals. “It shows how much he cares. When I saw he was here, all I was thinking about was to give my 150 percent for him. It’s a tough situation. We try to stay close to him and support him as much as we can, but it’s a lot.”
Bright said he chose not to say anything to Messi, but rather to give him space.
“Everybody reacts their own way, so I tried to keep my distance,” Bright said. “I don’t want to interfere with him becasue I don’t know if he wants to speak to me. When things calm down a little bit, maybe I will tell him something.”
Brazilian star Casemiro, who joined Inter Miami a few weeks ago, said he, too, was surprised and deeply moved to see Messi at the game.
“He is an example for all of us because he is going through a very difficult stage, but he had a commitment with not only his teammates but with the club and that’s incredible,” Casemiro said. “I had never seen that in my life. All we can do is thank him for being here. We know he is a very important player, and the commitment he has with us and the club can only be applauded. We have to keeping helping him and his family.”
Miami led 1-0 at halftime thanks to a 42nd-minute goal by Daniel Pinter, who buried a cross from Ian Fray to the bottom left corner.
Leon tied it up 1-1 at the 50-minute mark with a goal by Colombian midfielder Daniel Arcila, who had also scored against Nashville and Orlando City in the two previous Leagues Cup games. Three minutes later, Bright scored the go-ahead goal with a left-footed shot to the top left corner following a corner kick.
The spirited but smaller-than-usual Nu Stadium crowd celebrated Bright’s goal, but the mood swung shortly thereafter and it was Leon’s fans cheering after Juan Dominguez scored the equalizer on a right-footed shot from the center of the box to make it 2-2.
Leon had several chances to take the lead, but Miami goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo came up with big saves to keep Inter Miami in the game. Then, in the 83rd minute, Arcila struck again for the game-winning goal. It was initially disallowed for off-side, but later awarded after a VAR review.
Inter Miami has now been eliminated from two tournaments it had hoped to win, the Concacaf Champions Cup and the Leagues Cup. The defending MLS Cup champions turn their attention back to league play and have a big game on the road on Saturday against first-place Nashville SC, which is two points ahead of Miami in the standings.
“Obviously, when you have the best player in the world and some of the best players in history [on your team] you want to win, but winning is not easy,” Bright said. “Sometimes you fall short. This is football. Anybody can say whatever they want. But we’ve got the No. 1 team in the league right now on Saturday, so we have to move on. It doesn’t do any good to think about this game anymore. From tomorrow, we start working on Nashville.”
Messi had flown to his hometown of Rosario, Argentina with his family on Saturday for the funeral of his father, Jorge Messi, who died at age 68 after battling an undisclosed illness. Messi commented publicly for the first time about his father’s death on a social media post Wednesday.
He thanked his father, who also served as his business manager, for everything he had done for him. Messi also described how heavily his father’s declining health weighed on him during this summer’s World Cup and questioned how much longer he could play without his father’s presence.
He wasted no time getting back to the sport he loves so much and his teammates were there to support him.
Messi did not participate in pre-game warmups and watched the first half from the bench alongside defender Maxi Falcon. He did not warm up at intermission, either, but just before the second half started, he went to the sideline to check in as the crowd roared and began chanting “Messi! Messi!”
He finished the match with 49 touches and five shots, three of them on frame, but was unable to find the back of the net. He walked off the field immediately after the final whistle, receiving a few pats on the back from Leon players as he made his way to the tunnel.
Hoyos made just one change from the starting lineup he used in Saturday’s game against Monterrey, which Miami lost 2-1 on a 90th minute goal.
Gonzalo Lujan started on the back line in place of Facundo Mura. Ian Fray moved from center back to right back, Lujan and Micael started at center back, with Noah Allen at left back. Rocco Rios Novo was the starting goalkeeper, as he has been since the World Cup break.
The midfield included Casemiro, Telasco Segovia, Yannick Bright, and Rodrigo De Paul, who wore the captain’s armband for the second game in a row in place of his close friend Messi.
With the absence of Luis Suarez (suspended), German Berterame (concussion protocol), and Mateo Silvetti (dislocated shoulder), the starting forwards were Pinter and Lovend’s Delinois, a 21-year-old Haitian making his second appearance with the first team after being promoted from the second team.
Miami won its Leagues Cup opening match 4-2 against San Luis with Messi scoring a pair of goals and assisting on another. But the Argentine captain was unavailable for Game 2 due to his father’s funeral.
The loss to Monterrey left Inter Miami in 12th place with three points among the 18 MLS teams in the tournament with a difficult task against Leon, which won both its opening Leagues Cup games against Nashville (1-0) and Orlando City (2-1).
Only the top four clubs from the MLS standings and top four from Liga MX advance to the quarterfinals. After Wednesday’s loss, Inter Miami dropped to 17th place of the 18 MLS teams with just three points from three games.
This story was originally published August 12, 2026 at 7:52 PM with the headline "Messi rejoins Inter Miami, but team ousted from Leagues Cup after loss to Leon."