Inter Miami suffers bruising defeat with Lionel Messi absent again through injury

By Ben Church, CNN

(CNN) — Inter Miami suffered a chastening Major League Soccer defeat by Chicago Fire on Wednesday – losing 4-1 – with talisman Lionel Messi missing through injury yet again.

The loss is a major dent to Miami’s playoff aspirations, with the team now needing to win all three of its remaining regular season games to stand any chance of progression.

Messi has now missed the last four matches and his team has struggled to fill the gap left by the 36-year-old forward. Late last month, Miami manager Gerardo Martino said Messi was dealing with an old scar tissue problem.

Two goals from former English Premier League star Xherdan Shaqiri and a brace from Maren Haile-Selassie gave Chicago a convincing win, with Josef Martínez scoring a penalty to give Miami some initial hope in the first half.

Martino cut a frustrated figure when speaking to reporters after the game, admitting that his side’s playoff dreams now relied on other team’s losing around them.

Miami sits 14th in the 15-team Eastern Conference divison.

“With sadness, seeing how the last chances are disappearing,” he said, per the MLS website.

“We no longer depend on ourselves. There may be some minimal possibility and other results may or may not help us.

“With the deterioration that the team has been experiencing in the last 15 days, I don’t think the problem lies only in what our opponents are doing.”

With doubts around whether Messi would play the match at Chicago’s Soldier Field, the hosts offered fans a financial incentive to attend.

Prior to the match, the Chicago Fire said it would be offering “a $250 account credit toward new memberships for the 2024 season” or a “$50 account credit” for anyone unable to buy a membership for next year.

Inter Miami’s boss Martino told reporters that he found the saga around Messi’s availability bizarre.

“I understand the expectation in Chicago, like there’s been in other places, but when a player isn’t in condition to play, he can’t play. We can’t make him go out and play under any circumstance,” he told reporters.

“I think it’s very strange in the context of world football that a manager must explain to the opposing fans why the best player in the world isn’t playing.

“They are situations that arise only because it’s about him and because we’re here in the United States.

“In no other place would the home fans be worried if the opposing team’s best player wasn’t playing.”

Inter Miami will hope to get its season back on track when it faces FC Cincinnati on Sunday.

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