Inter Miami manager Javier Mascherano has responded to a suggestion that Lionel Messi suffered an injury during Inter Miami’s hard-fought 1-0 MLS win at Columbus Crew on Saturday.
Benjamin Cremeschi’s 30th-minute diving header gave unbeaten Miami their fifth league win of the season and handed their feared opponents their first defeat, although Mascherano admitted that his side had been forced to adopt a low block late in the game, when he substituted striker Luis Suarez for Venezuela midfielder Telasco Segovia.
When a reported asked whether captain Messi was injured and told Mascherano that the live broadcast of the game had claimed the captain “couldn’t walk very well” at full-time, the former Argentina international replied: “Not that I know.
“Nothing happened to him. I didn’t see him leave the dressing room but, as far as I know, there’s nothing. I will ask the doctors, but they haven’t told me anything.”
Un cabezazo de Benja nos da la ventaja 💥😮💨 pic.twitter.com/nQIQX7UZcw
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) April 19, 2025
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Columbus vs Inter Miami
Columbus finished second to Miami in last season’s regular MLS and were the only team to come close to their total of 79 goals, scoring 72 in 34 games.
The hosts had 60% of possession and 18 of the 24 attempts at goal between the teams but have now failed to score in three of their five home league matches in the 2025 campaign.
Mascherano regards Crew manager Wilfried Nancy, whose trophies with the club include the 2023 MLS Cup and the 2024 Leagues Cup, as the best in the MLS.
Vamos equipo 💗 pic.twitter.com/QV1RKHuZZ6
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) April 19, 2025
Mascherano: Inter Miami ‘mini-match’
“I said we had to be very good in defense in order to neutralize them, because they are an attacking team,” said Mascherano.
“I clearly don’t like [a low block], but sometimes the opposition plays and subdues you and you have to know how to suffer and live with it.
“We would have wanted to play higher up the pitch, clearly, but… it made sense because of our fatigue. We had to deal with a mini-match during the last 20 or 25 minutes, when our opponents forced us to play in that area of the pitch.”
In back-to-back weeks, marquee matches across @MLS have featured attendances of more than 60,000, including a club-record 60,614 at today’s @ColumbusCrew vs. @InterMiamiCF match at Huntington Bank Field — the stadium’s highest-attended non-football event since it opened in 1999. pic.twitter.com/wRM1ngoygL
— MLS Communications (@MLS_PR) April 19, 2025
Luis Suarez ‘has been playing a lot’
Third-placed Miami are a point behind Cincinnati and Eastern Conference leaders Charlotte with a game in hand and visit Vancouver in the first leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup semi-finals on Thursday (22:30 ET).
“Luis has been playing a lot of minutes and we wanted to have the ball more,” Mascherano said of 38-year-old Suarez, who has four goals and six assists in 13 appearances in all competitions this season. “We have another game to manage on Thursday.”
The result ended Inter’s two-game drawing run in the league. They are next in MLS action at home to Dallas – ninth in the Western Conference – on Sunday (19:00).
