Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami team-mate Jordi Alba received one-game suspensions earlier this week for skipping Major League Soccer’s All-Star game, and Lionel Messi is “extremely upset.”
The MLS squad defeated Mexico’s Liga MX All-Stars 3-1 on Wednesday in Austin, Texas, but both players were unavailable for the game.
Any player who doesn’t take part in the All-Star Game without the league’s approval is ineligible to play in their club’s next game, according to league rules, according to a statement released on Friday.
The duo will now miss Saturday’s home league game against FC Cincinnati because of this.
Jorge Mas, the owner of Inter Miami, described Messi’s response to the ban as “very out of the ordinary.”
I’m optimistic that it won’t have a long-term effect. Will it initially affect how players perceive the league’s rules-making process? Without a doubt, absolutely.
Alba and Messi’s response was exactly as expected, according to Mas: “The reaction was exactly as expected out of two competitive players who don’t understand why not attending an exhibition match results in a suspension.”
They don’t understand the rule, but it is what it is. I believe the rule’s punishment is incredibly harsh.
Lionel Messi is known to adore this league, he added.
There isn’t anyone, or a player, in the world who has contributed more to MLS than Messi, in my opinion. I fully respect his decision, as well as his commitment to Inter Miami.
“Unfortunately, we had to impose a long-standing policy regarding All-Star Game participation,” he said.
Messi, 38, has scored 18 goals this season for Javier Mascherano’s side in the MLS, while Alba, 36, has made 19 league appearances.
The Miami side’s quest to reach the Fifa Club World Cup quarter-finals included the two players, who also played together at Barcelona from 2012 to 2021.
Miami have played five matches this month, with Messi scoring eight goals, since their exit from the competition against eventual champions Paris St-Germain.
De Paul, the winner of the World Cup, joins Messi at Inter.
Rodrigo De Paul, 31, a former world champion from Atletico Madrid, has joined Inter.
In 187 appearances, the midfielder recorded 26 assists and 14 goals for Atletico during his four years there.
He will initially go on loan until the 2025 season, but there is a 2029 option to extend the loan.
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- Major League Soccer in the United States
- Football
Source: BBC
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