{"id":219083,"date":"2026-04-04T23:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T23:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/219083\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T23:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T23:13:13","slug":"is-lionel-messi-playing-tonight-for-inter-miami-vs-austin-fc-after-missing-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/219083\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Lionel Messi Playing Tonight for Inter Miami vs Austin FC After Missing Training?"},"content":{"rendered":"

MLS <\/a>is back following the international break, and Inter Miami CF returns to action for a landmark match: the official opening of their new Nu Stadium.<\/p>\n

Javier Mascherano\u2019s squad has enjoyed a strong start to the 2026 season with 3 wins, 1 loss, and 1 draw and now host Austin FC at their brand-new home.<\/p>\n

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Inter Miami captain, Lionel Messi<\/a> too reacted to the new stadium in a statement released by the club. \u201cIt\u2019s spectacular, impressive\u2026 crazy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While Messi is clearly excited for the home opener, his absence from Thursday’s training session did raise some eyebrows.<\/p>\n

Is Lionel Messi Playing Tonight for Inter Miami vs Austin FC<\/p>\n

The Argentinian forward is coming off a busy international break where he featured for the national team against Mauritania and Zambia. He stayed in scoring form, finding the back of the net with a late first-half goal in a dominant 5-0 win over Zambia.<\/p>\n

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\"Lionel<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi of Argentina looks on during the international friendly match between Argentina and Mauritania.Photo by Marcos Brindicci&sol;Getty Images<\/p>\n

(Photo by Marcos Brindicci&sol;Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Addressing concerns regarding Messi\u2019s absence from the squad\u2019s training session, Mascherano offered an update to the media.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe already had it planned that way. Keep in mind it hasn’t even been 48 hours since they finished playing. We only wanted them to move a little in a regenerative way,\u201d he said, talking about the Argentinian, Noah Allen and Alex Shaw.<\/p>\n

Mascherano also confirmed that the decision was entirely tactical. \u201cLeo is fine, we are simply taking the usual care that we take with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The 38-year-old has already recorded four goals this season following a record-breaking 2025 campaign where he won the Golden Boot with 29 goals, powering the club to their first-ever MLS Cup title.<\/p>\n

Currently third in the Eastern Conference, Miami will aim to extend Austin FC\u2019s winless streak. The Los Verdes squad is winless in their last three MLS matches, having gone 0-2-1 (W-L-D) in that span. Their recent form includes a 0-0 draw against LAFC, a 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake, and a 3-1 loss to Charlotte FC.<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, Austin FC will look to secure a statement win against The Herons and maintain their unbeaten record against them.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Apr 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the Soccer<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MLS is back following the international break, and Inter Miami CF returns to action for a landmark match:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4101,17159,17160,5429,99409,15259,63686,1660,123,125,124,5692,27824,14243,99410],"class_list":{"0":"post-219083","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-argentina","9":"tag-austin-fc","10":"tag-charlotte-fc","11":"tag-inter-miami-cf","12":"tag-international-break","13":"tag-javier-mascherano","14":"tag-lafc","15":"tag-lionel-messi","16":"tag-miami","17":"tag-miami-headlines","18":"tag-miami-news","19":"tag-mls","20":"tag-noah-allen","21":"tag-real-salt-lake","22":"tag-zambia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}