Before Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba joined Inter Miami in the summer, the Florida-based franchise were in a world of bother in the MLS. They sat near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, and the play-offs looked far, far away.
However, with the trio – and especially Messi – in tow, they looked to be rising up the table, until the Argentine suffered an injury last month, which had seen him miss several matches over the last few weeks.
Messi made his return to action on Saturday night, but a defeat to FC Cincinnati officially confirmed that Inter Miami cannot make this season’s MLS play-offs, meaning that their two matches against Charlotte FC later this month will be their last ones of the campaign.
Tonight's final from #DRVPNKStadium#MIAvCIN pic.twitter.com/GecwyjEXBQ
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) October 8, 2023
Earlier this week, a report from Sport stated that Inter Miami could allow Messi to return to Barcelona in January on a six-month loan, providing that they missed out on the MLS play-offs. Now that this has proven to be the case, it will be interesting to see whether there is any movement on this in the coming weeks.
There has been cases of this happening in the past, with David Beckham and Thierry Henry. Barcelona would surely be delighted to welcome Messi back, but whether it’s possible remains to be seen.
