Inter Miami CF head coach Javier Mascherano confirmed that Lionel Messi will be available to participate in the opening match of the Major League Soccer season against Los Angeles FC on Saturday night.
“Messi is fine, he has been training all week at the same level as the rest of the team,” Mascherano said on Friday. “He has been doing well and has had very positive feelings. So he will leave well prepared, like the rest of the team.”
The striker’s participation in this match was initially in doubt after suffering a muscle strain in his left hamstring during the pre-season match against Barcelona SC on February 7. Although Messi started the friendly, he left the field in the 58th minute to watch from the sidelines.
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Inter Miami subsequently decided to reschedule the final preseason friendly against Independiente del Valle in Puerto Rico for February 26, instead of the original date of February 13.
Messi has returned to training with the rest of the squad since suffering the strain.
The coach subsequently emphasized that “all players who traveled with the team” to California will be available for selection, including newly signed Designated Player Germán Berterame and now Inter Miami permanent fixture Tadeo Allende.
Mascherano admitted that the team expects a difficult match against LAFC, given the caliber of the players on both sides of the field.
“It is clear, however, that they are two great teams and, of course, given the caliber of their players and what they represent in the league, they are two teams that, on paper, should be contenders,” Mascherano said.
“You always imagine the ideal game, and the ideal game for us would be the complete opposite of that, a back-and-forth affair. It would be about controlling the game, having long periods of possession and preventing Los Angeles from making transitions because they need to move quickly.”
Inter Miami enters the 2026 campaign as the current MLS champions, having lifted the 2025 MLS Cup by defeating the Vancouver Whitecaps. The team will now compete in the Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup and Champions Cup in addition to the MLS regular season.
