{"id":283282,"date":"2026-05-25T03:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T03:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/283282\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T03:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T03:35:09","slug":"lionel-messi-injury-update-inter-miami-star-grabs-at-leg-exits-mls-game-weeks-before-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/283282\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi injury update: Inter Miami star grabs at leg, exits MLS game weeks before World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lionel Messi injury update: Inter Miami star grabs at leg, exits MLS game weeks before World Cup<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi<\/a> is hoping for one last ride to a championship as he prepares for what is fully expected to be his last World Cup, but an apparent injury suffered Sunday night could throw a wrench into Argentina<\/a>‘s plans.<\/p>\n

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Messi grabbed at the back of his leg and asked for a substitute before walking off the field after a free kick against Philadelphia Union<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Inter Miami<\/a> was playing its final game before the World Cup when Messi exited. The MLS season is set to break through July 16, beginning Monday.<\/p>\n

Here’s what you need to know about Messi’s injury and when his first World Cup game would be.<\/p>\n

2026 WORLD CUP HQ:Latest World Cup news<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Full World Cup schedule<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Buy World Cup tickets<\/a><\/p>\n

Lionel Messi injury update<\/p>\n

Messi grabbed the back of his leg and asked for a substitute after a free kick during Inter Miami’s match against Philadelphia Union on Sunday night. He appeared to walk back without any significant limp.<\/p>\n

The back of the leg is where the hamstring is located, but Messi’s exact injury wasn’t immediately clear.<\/p>\n

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Insider Fabrizio Romano reported Inter Miami will “assess” the injury, but the club hasn’t yet provided an update.<\/p>\n

Inter Miami was even with Philadelphia in a high-scoring affair at the time of the injury but went on to win 6-4 after Messi’s exit.<\/p>\n

MORE:Full schedule of games for Group J, featuring Argentina<\/a><\/p>\n

When does the World Cup begin?<\/p>\n

Argentina’s World Cup journey is set to begin on June 16 with a match against Algeria<\/a> in Kansas City. That’s 23 days, or a little more than three weeks, from Sunday night’s apparent injury.<\/p>\n

Argentina hasn’t revealed its World Cup roster yet, but Messi is set to be a focal point of the squad even at this late stage of his international career.<\/p>\n

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MORE:When will Argentina announce World Cup roster?<\/a><\/p>\n

How old is Lionel Messi?<\/p>\n

Messi is 38 years old and will turn 39 in June, right in the middle of group play during Argentina’s World Cup run.<\/p>\n

Even as he nears 40, Messi is considered an outstanding player and is coming off back-to-back MLS MVP seasons. Messi fully expects this year’s World Cup to be his last.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi injury update: Inter Miami star grabs at leg, exits MLS game weeks before World Cup originally…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[120431,120430,4101,10073,1660,123,125,124,14193,9611],"class_list":["post-283282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-algeria","tag-apparent-injury","tag-argentina","tag-inter-miami","tag-lionel-messi","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-philadelphia-union","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283282","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=283282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}