Messi, teammates exchange words with Rayados coach Ortiz after loss in first leg
Inter Miami faced its toughest test of the year without Lionel Messi on Wednesday night, and for 68 minutes looked the better team, but went down a man and paid the price, losing 2-1 in the Champions Cup quarterfinal home leg against Mexican power Monterrey.
Both of Monterrey’s goals came after Miami midfielder David Ruiz was ejected with a second yellow card after an ill-advised foul in the 65th minute.
The second and deciding leg of the series next Wednesday at Estadio BBVA in Monterrey figures to be a spicy rematch after Messi and a few of his teammates reportedly exchanged heated words with Monterrey coach Fernando “Tano” Ortiz following
Wednesday night’s game in Fort Lauderdale.
According to Mexican broadcaster Fernando Schwartz, who was working with rights holder
Fox Sports, Messi and a few teammates confronted Ortiz in the tunnel to complain about controversial pregame comments he made.
Ortiz had been quoted saying that the referees might favor Inter Miami because of Messi, that soccer is a business and for that reason Messi’s team would have an advantage from the officials. As it turned out, it was Miami that had one player red-carded and six receive yellow cards. Three Monterrey players got yellow cards.
Maximiliano Meza scored the equalizer for the Mexican visitors in the 69th minute and Jorge Rodriguez got the gamewinner in the 89th minute after Miami midfielder Diego Gomez made a sloppy pass that got intercepted just outside the box.
Messi was in street clothes for the highly publicized matchup, which was front-page news all over Mexico. Mexican TV and radio announcers provided live coverage all day in the leadup to the game at Chase
guez’s shot found the upper right corner.
Ultimately, it was the leg that wouldn’t allow Messi to play that has Miami limping in a precarious spot now.
The second-leg match is next Wednesday across the southern border in Monterrey, Mexico, and Inter Miami must win and score at least two goals to advance to the semifinal. A 1-0 win would not suffice. Away goals are the first tiebreaker after aggregate total goals. Another Monterrey win by any score would eliminate Miami.
Monterrey coach Fernando Ortiz boasted before the game, “We have better players than Inter Miami.”
Sans Messi, at least, he might be right.
“He’s game-to-game. This wasn’t the game. He wasn’t ready,” coach Tata Martino said after the match. “Every day he feels better, but today felt like too high a risk.”
We presume Messi will be ready to play in next week’s must-win and that sitting out the first leg was a strategic gamble that failed — that Messi probably could have played, considering he’d returned to the practice pitch on Tuesday.
Miami’s frustration and desperation for a home win Wednesday showed in four yellow cards and a red shown David Ruiz — which preceded the tying goal with Miami a man down. The blunder by Ruiz, 20, proved a crippling blow.
“I liked the way we competed, I think we did a really good job and that’s what I consider most important,” said coach Tata Martino. “I also think it was a learning opportunity for the club and our younger players, and facing that, we played up to the high standards of the match.”
Miami plays an MLS match in between the Monterrey quiniela, at Sporting Kansas City on Saturday, but Messi seems very unlikely to play and risk aggravating the hamstring and being unavailable for the second leg vs. Monterrey. The MLS season is still young — only seven of 34 matches in — and Miami is off to a solid 3-2-2 start that has the Herons on early playoff pace.
The Champions Cup and its great rewards are what Miami is after.
The winning club receives $5 million in cash plus a spot in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup — a huge deal. This would be an ultimate global measuring stick for a Messiled Inter Miami. Club World Cup winners have included the mighty likes of Manchester United, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City.
The CONCACAF Champions Cup winner also wins an invite to FIFA’s new Intercontinental Cup tournament.
But the Club World Cup is the bigger invite, both monetarily and in tradition and prestige.
Monterrey previously had qualified for next year’s Club World Cup, so unlike Miami does not need to win this Champions Cup title for an invite.
One might have thought the absence of real incentive in Monterrey would have provided a big edge for Miami.
Zero indication of that Wednesday night.