No one goes to Broadway to see the understudy. So when a record crowd of 26,276 – many of whom spent profligate sums for tickets on the resale market – packed Red Bull Arena on Saturday night for Lionel Messi’s eagerly awaited Major League Soccer debut, there was a palpable sense of disappointment when the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner was absent from Inter Miami’s starting lineup.
The breather, of course, was well deserved. The Argentina captain had featured in all eight games for Inter Miami since joining from Paris Saint-Germain on 21 July, including 390 minutes in four matches over the past two weeks. After sparking the fourth-year expansion side to their first ever trophy in last week’s Leagues Cup final with his 10th goal in seven contests, Messi looked positively gassed for lengthy stretches of Wednesday’s US Open Cup semi-final win at FC Cincinnati. And who could blame him? Not even Lea Michele can play Fanny Brice every night.
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