Will Lionel Messi travel with Inter Miami and play in Jamaica on Thursday night?
It’s the burning question since Messi missed his last three games to rest from an early bout of fatigue during the 2025 season.
Inter Miami will play the second leg of its Concacaf Champions Cup round-of-16 matchup against Cavalier FC, the reigning Jamaica Premier League champions, at Jamaica National Stadium in Kingston. The match begins at 8 p.m. ET Thursday, with Inter Miami holding a 2-0 lead in aggregate score after their first matchup last week.
Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said Messi would make the trip to Jamaica with the team later Wednesday. But it’s unclear how much Messi will play.
‘Leo is in the squad. He is going to travel, and tomorrow we will decide on the day of the game what is best, whether he starts, whether he waits and comes on later. We will see how it goes,” Mascherano said Wednesday. “Today he trained with the group. He did the whole training session and (his feelings) were very good.”
If Messi plays, it will be his first match since Feb. 25 or 15 days.
How to watch Cavalier FC vs. Inter Miami match on Thursday?
The Cavalier FC vs. Inter Miami match will be available to watch on FS2 in English, and on TUDN and ViX in Spanish.
Will Messi play tomorrow in Jamaica?
It’s possible Messi could play, but a formal decision will be known when Inter Miami announces its starting lineup about an hour before the match begins Thursday.
How many games has Messi missed?
Messi has not played in the last three Inter Miami matches, but was anticipated to return off the bench last Sunday at home against Charlotte FC.
However, Inter Miami was forced to play with 10 players after goalie Oscar Ustari was given a red card and ejected in the first half of the match. Instead of playing without a goalie, Mascherano substituted midfielder Benjamin Cremaschi out of the match for backup goalie Rocco Ríos Novo. Mascherano said he didn’t want to risk playing Messi in the match while down a player.
‘The reality is that in the case of Leo maybe we had thought about giving him minutes in the game,” Mascherano said after the 1-0 win against Charlotte. ‘But since the game was played with one man less, and taking into consideration the time he has without playing, we thought that the best thing was to preserve it. We didn’t want to risk it.”
Messi did not travel to Inter Miami’s 4-1 win against the Houston Dynamo on March 2, and did not play in Inter Miami’s first leg against Cavalier FC last Thursday.
Messi predominately played in three matches during a six-day stretch from Feb. 19-25, and eight matches in a 40-day span from Jan. 18 to Feb. 14, including five preseason matches played in Las Vegas, Peru, Panama, Honduras and Tampa, Florida.
Messi’s upcoming schedule with Inter Miami, Argentina
After Inter Miami returns from Jamaica, they will have a rematch Sunday against Atlanta United — the club that eliminated them in upset fashion from the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs last season. It will be Inter Miami’s last match before the FIFA international window opens for World Cup qualifiers.
Messi is expected to join the Argentine national team for two matches: Argentina visits Uruguay on March 21, then Argentina hosts Brazil on March 25.
Inter Miami’s last match of the month will be on March 29 at home against the Philadelphia Union.
Who will Inter Miami or Cavalier FC face in next round of Champions Cup?
The winner of the Inter Miami-Cavalier FC matchup will meet LAFC in the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Champions Cup. LAFC would host the first leg, while Inter Miami/Cavalier would host the second leg. The quarterfinal series will begin in early April.
LAFC beat Columbus Crew 4-2 on aggregate score, with their matchup ending Tuesday night.