Why isn’t Lionel Messi playing for Inter Miami against Toronto in MLS?

Lionel Messi captained Argentina to a third major tournament victory in succession at the Copa América 2024 but is now set for a spell on the sidelines, starting with Inter Miami’s MLS fixture at home to Toronto, after suffering an ankle injury in Sunday’s final against Colombia.

What injury did Messi suffer against Colombia?

There had already been suggestions the 37-year-old would be left out of Wednesday’s match at Chase Park even before his suffered his latest fitness setback.

Messi was taken off midway through the second half at Hard Rock Stadium having seemingly got his foot caught in the turf before half time, which led to him receiving treatment for an ankle sprain. He carried on for 20 minutes or so after the break, but eventually hobbled off.

“I’m fine, thank God,” Messi wrote on Instagram after Argentina had won the trophy. “I hope I can soon be on the field again enjoying what I like to do most. I am happy, very happy, especially because we achieved the goal we had wanted.”

When will Messi be back playing? How many games could he miss?

In the run-up to the Game against Toronto, however, Inter Miami head coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino explained “fine” was a relative term.

“We’ll do some tests and they’ll determine how serious the injury is. He suffered a sprain and obviously he has an injury. Now we need to wait for the results of the tests,” the former Mexico manager told the press.

Messi is expected to miss the home Games against Toronto (Wednesday, July 17) and the Chicago Fire (Saturday, 20 July) at the very least. There is now a serious question mark over whether he will be fit to take per in the MLS All-Star Game on Wednesday, July 24, while he could also be in danger of sitting out the start of Inter Miami’s Leagues Cup defence against Mexican team Puebla on Saturday, July 27.

Why isn’t Luis Suárez playing from the start against Toronto?

Luis Suárez, on the other hand, did go straight back into the Inter Miami squad after the Copa América.

The former Barcelona striker played 45 minutes in Uruguay’s third-place playoff win over Canada on Saturday, in which he scored an injury-time equaliser and a penalty in the shootout.

Suárez returned to training with The Herons on Monday and was named among the substitutes on Wednesday by Martino, who looks to be keen to ease the veteran back into club duty after his recent international exertions.