Is Lionel Messi playing today in MLS match? Latest news on Inter Miami vs NY Red Bulls as rest is required

Lionel Messi has been electric for Inter Miami since joining in mid-July, leading the club to the Leagues Cup title and the U.S. Open Cup final through his first eight matches with the club.

Yet at 36 years old, alongside 35-year-old Sergio Busquets and 34-year-old Jordi Alba, Messi can’t play every minute of every match. The Inter Miami schedule through the remainder of the season is grueling, with essentially two matches a week for the next two months at least.

Only with the club for a month, Messi has played 714 minutes even before making his MLS debut. Inter Miami looked collectively exhausted down the stretch against both Nashville SC in the Leagues Cup final and FC Cincinnati in the U.S. Open Cup semifinals, yet they were able to grind out a draw on both occasions and win in the ensuing penalty shootout.

Now, with Inter Miami hoping to engineer an improbable playoff run and every match of critical importance, it will be up to Gerardo Martino to decide when to rest the Inter Miami stars. Coming up next for Inter Miami is a trip to the New York Red Bulls on August 26, where Messi, Busquets, and Alba are expected to make their MLS debut — if they are available to play.

MORE: An updated tracker of the players Lionel Messi has swapped shirts with since joining Inter Miami

Will Lionel Messi play against the New York Red Bulls?

It’s unclear at this point whether Lionel Messi will play against the Red Bulls on Saturday. If he steps onto the field, it would be his Major League Soccer debut, having only played in Leagues Cup and U.S. Open Cup matches to this point.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Friday, the day before the match, head coach Tata Martino said he understood that many fans have come to games to see Messi play, but that he could not be swayed into a decision by the prospect of disappointing visiting fans.

“I understand everyone’s expectations to see him,” Martino said of Messi’s potential availability this weekend, “but I can’t act on that because I would run the risk of getting things wrong. The only thing that interests me is that he is fit to play.”

“Throughout his whole career, he [Messi] always wants to play, every game. Sometimes you have to make him stop and convince him to stop so that he can recover and be fit for every game. External factors are not something I take into account to determine whether he plays or not.”

MORE: Lionel Messi shows he is just as good a captain as he is a player at Inter Miami

How many minutes has Lionel Messi played with Inter Miami?

The workload is rapidly increasing for Lionel Messi in his new home.

Since joining the club this summer, and making his debut on July 22, Lionel Messi has collected 714 minutes before even making his first Major League Soccer appearance. Since coming off the bench in his Inter Miami debut, playing 36 minutes, he has started each of the next seven games, playing the maximum in all but one.

Messi led Inter Miami to the Leagues Cup final, making seven appearances through the tournament and playing 594 minutes. He scored at least one goal in every single match, bagging 10 scores in the seven games.

Then, Messi played the full 120 minutes in the U.S. Open Cup semifinal against FC Cincinnati on August 23, just three days before the trip to Harrison, NJ for his first MLS match.

Season	Competition	Games	Mins
2023	MLS	—	—
2023	U.S. Open Cup	1	120
2023	Leagues Cup	7	594
TOTAL		8	714

Will Lionel Messi play on turf?

Some MLS clubs that sport turf fields are preparing for the possibility of Lionel Messi choosing not to play on their surface.

The question has been lingering since Messi first joined, with the understanding that some previous MLS stars like David Beckham (the current Inter Miami owner) and Thierry Henry opted out.

Messi looked to alleviate those fears in his first press conference with the club.

“My youth was spent on artificial turf,” Messi told the media regarding his time at the famed La Masia youth academy at Barcelona. “My whole life was on that pitch. Truth is it’s been a while since I’ve played on artificial turf, but I have no problem adapting myself again.”

We’ll see if that comes into play. MLS teams that have turf fields include Seattle Sounders, Vancouver Whitecaps, Portland Timbers, New England Revolution, Charlotte FC, and Atlanta United. Games against Charlotte and Atlanta loom on Inter Miami’s remaining MLS schedule this season, and if they manage to make the playoffs, they could see other teams on that list, including New England who are also in the Eastern Conference.