Messi injured, Falcon ejected in Inter Miami's Leagues Cup match vs. Necaxa

Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald on Aug 2, 2025

Published in Soccer

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Inter Miami faced two huge hurdles early in its Leagues Cup home game against Mexican club Necaxa on a sweltering Saturday evening at Chase Stadium.

In the span of six minutes, Miami lost its captain, Lionel Messi, and one of its defensive leaders, Maxi Falcon.

Messi left the field with an apparent right upper thigh injury after falling while being challenged by defenders Raul Sanchez and Alexi Pena at the 11-minute mark. He stumbled onto the ground, got up, tried to walk it off, but then sat down and sought medical attention.

The crowd went silent as the dejected Argentine star was treated by the team’s medical staff before taking off his captain’s armband and trudging to the tunnel.

Falcon was ejected with a red card six minutes later after slightly tugging on the shirt of Diber Cambindo as he raced toward the edge of the box. Falcon, his teammates, the Miami bench and the home crowd protested the call, but it stood.

Messi was replaced by Fede Redondo. Falcon’s exit left Miami with 10 men for the remainder of the game.

In between the two setbacks, Inter Miami took a 1-0 lead with a brilliant goal by Telasco Segovia with an assist from Rodrigo De Paul, starting his second game since joining the team last week.

Holding a lead and down a man, Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano took a defensive stance and replaced Tadeo Allende with Gonzalo Lujan in the 29th minute.

But Necaxa tied it up four minutes later with a left-footed shot by Tomas Badaloni, who got past Noah Allen, starting his first game since injuring his hamstring in the Club World Cup Round of 16 game against Paris Saint-Germain on June 29.

Then, at the 60-minute mark, Necaxa defender Cristian Calderon was sent off with a second yellow card, evening the field at 10 versus 10. Six minutes later, Mascherano made three substitutions for Miami: Sergio Busquets, Noah Allen and Telasco Segovia were replaced by Toto Aviles, Yannick Bright and Benja Cremaschi.

Both teams were coming off dramatic wins in their opening Leagues Cup games. Inter Miami defeated Atlas, 2-1, on a Chelo Weigandt goal in added time and Necaxa won, 3-1, against Atlanta United with a pair of goals by Badaloni in the final 12 minutes.

Despite the victories, both teams were desperate to score goals and win again on Saturday because of the new Leagues Cup format. Rather than the traditional group stage format, where a group winner is guaranteed to advance, this tournament divided the field by league, and the top four teams in each league’s table after three games qualifies for the knockout round.

In other words, a team could win all three of its group games and be eliminated based on goal differential against the other teams in its league.

Heading into Saturday’s game, Miami was in sixth place among MLS teams with a plus-1 goal differential, behind Seattle (plus-7), Portland (plus-4), LA Galaxy (plus-3), Minnesota (plus-3), and Cincinnati (plus-1).