Will Lionel Messi play tonight for Inter Miami vs Houston Dynamo in MLS?

The Herons secured a draw in their opening MLS 2025 match.

Inter Miami will return to action tonight when they face Houston Dynamo in their second MLS game of the 2025 season.

Even though they were one man down in their regular-season opener against New York City, Inter Miami managed to salvage a point by tying the score in the tenth minute of injury time.

The Herons were heading towards a defeat in their opening MLS match, but Lionel Messi’s magic in the dying moments saved them from defeat.

The Fort Lauderdale team has only defeated the Dynamo once in four previous encounters since joining the league, winning 1-0 at home in 2020.

Last week, Javier Mascherano appeared to be seconds away from losing his first game as the Herons’ manager, but the exceptional individual talent his team possesses has saved the Argentine on multiple occasions.

Lionel Messi assisted both of their two goals against NYCFC and scored the first goal in both of their CONCACAF Champions Cup matches against Sporting Kansas City.

Will Lionel Messi play tonight?

Lionel Messi, Inter Miami’s marquee player, will not play in tonight’s Major League Soccer matchup with the Houston Dynamo. The club’s plan to control Messi’s workload during the season includes the decision to rest him.

Messi did not go to Houston on Saturday with the club. The 37-year-old attacker is being rested to guarantee his best performance throughout the season, not because of an injury.

This action is a part of Inter Miami’s strategy to control the playing time of their main players amid a busy schedule.

The 2025 season for Inter Miami has gotten off to a hectic start. The two legs of their CONCACAF Champions Cup first-round match were positioned between their MLS first game last week. Messi played in each of those games. Thus it was decided that he should be given a break for today’s game.

For a player of Messi’s age, that would have meant his fourth game in only 12 days, which is a significant workload for the player and could have affected his fitness.

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