Lionel Messi did not travel to Texas with his inter Miami team to face Houston Dynamo at the Shell Energy Stadium on Sunday night, a source confirmed ESPN.
The new Miami’s head coach Xavier Mantrano decided to relax the star due to the team’s packed schedule. Inter Miami played three games in an interval of 10 days, kicking the 2025 campaign with a two-foot ConcacAF Champions Cup series with Sporting Canas City and MLS Opener vs. New York City FC.
The source of a club confirmed that Messi was not injured, and the CONCACAF Champions Cup at the Chess Stadium is expected to play against Jamaica’s Side Cavalier FC in the first-leg match on Thursday.
In a statement later on Saturday, Houston said that fans participating in Sunday’s game would be offered a comprehensive ticket for another match.
“Houston Dynamo is excited to host the Inter Miami CF at the Shell Energy Stadium on Sunday evening,” the statement said. “Lionel Messi was not included in the recently shared player status report for the match, but it is reported that he did not visit Houston. Unfortunately, we have no control over who plays for our rival.
“We are ready to host all tomorrow for the city of Houston, an incredible atmosphere and football celebration. To show our praise tomorrow, fans who participated in the match last night’s match can claim a complimentary tickets for the future Dinmo match in this season. Additional details will be provided in the beginning of the next week.”
Messi’s absence from the journey was first reported by Miami Herald.
Masterano said on Friday that the 37 -year -old team trained with teammates and would be available for selection later this week.
“Leo is fine, he is normal and he would usually train like all his colleagues,” Masterano said.
The coach proceeded to explain that he would relax the player when the time was right, with the heavy program throughout the 2025 season.
“Look, there are no two equal circumstances. And we have to keep everything in context. We played in a knockout round. We started the season in the Canasus, where the Champions League is an important competition for us,” said Masterano.
“We also had MLS start between two series of sports. It is one of the competitions where we aim to compete and reach the highest possible. When we talk about being able to rotate or give doses to players, we have to see references. The reference is that we had to play three games in six days.
“We did not have the rest that we had to be earlier, because we had changed to the date of the first match.
Inter Miami visits Dynamo for the day of the second match of the 2025 MLS season. The team is currently a draw under two wins and a draw
