Argentina legend Lionel Messi watched on from the sidelines as Inter Miami won its second consecutive MLS game on Sunday, despite having gone down to 10 men in the first half

The 10 men of Inter Miami managed to grind their way to a 1-0 win over Charlotte FC on Sunday as they climbed up to second in the Eastern Conference. But it wasn’t just the red-carded Oscar Ustari who head coach Javier Mascherano’s side was missing, with star man Lionel Messi merely a benchwarmer as he missed his third consecutive game.

Messi’s recent absences after three straight starts at the beginning of the season have left everyone outside of the organization with more questions than answers, with Mascherano repeatedly stating that the 37-year-old is not injured. Instead, the former Barcelona and Liverpool stalwart has insisted that the decision to rest Messi was with exactly that in mind – resting the ageing superstar with an extremely congested season ahead.

Sunday, however, was a slightly different situation, with Mascherano revealing post-game that goalkeeper Ustari’s 35th minute red card for a last ditch tackle on Wilfried Zaha forced him to reevaluate his plans for Messi. “The reality is that in the case of Leo maybe we had thought about giving him minutes in the game,” he explained, via ESPN.

“But since the game was played with one man less, and taking into consideration the time he has without playing, we thought that the best thing was to preserve it. We didn’t want to risk it.”

While those in attendance at Chase Stadium may not have gotten to see Messi in action, the game was not short of star power, with Barca icons Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba all named to Miami’s starting lineup, opposite former Premier League regular, Zaha.

Key to Miami’s victory, once again, was Suarez whose neat interplay with Tadeo Allende helped the Argentinian winger find the back of the net just seconds into the second half. Mascherano’s men held out for the remainder of the game to secure their second straight league win and their fourth in all competitions. Allende now leads Miami with four goals this season, while Suarez’s three assists are a joint team best with Telasco Segovia. Miami remains unbeaten across six competitive games this year.

Miami’s attention will now quickly turn to their upcoming trip to Jamaica where they’ll look to seal the deal in the second leg of their CONCACAF Round of 16 tie against Cavalier, having won 2-0 at home in the first leg on Thursday.

Javier Mascherano has led Inter Miami to five wins and a draw during his time in charge ( 
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Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
“It’s a long season for us. We have a tough game Thursday. Will be difficult, difficult in Jamaica,” Mascherano said. “So we have to be ready. It’s not easy. We are playing every three, four days. We are tired. The squad is not too long. We have some injuries, but we keep going forward. In football, we have two ways: excuses or results. And we have to choose results.”

Ahead of their trip to Kingston on Thursday, Mascherano highlighted the importance of his team remaining resilient. He praised his side’s “team spirit” on Sunday, emphasizing how they needed to maintain this moving forward.

“Keep working together, working hard. We know that maybe we believe that we think that we are nice and beautiful. We are wrong. We need to keep going forward,” he said. Mascherano’s side will be back in action shortly after returning from Jamaica, with an away game at Atlanta United scheduled for Sunday.