Wednesday night, Lionel Messi continued to be sidelined due to a hamstring injury. His Inter Miami squad led Mexico’s Monterrey by one goal at the break, but lost 2-1 in the second half of their CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal first leg.

Due to a right hamstring injury, Messi hasn’t played since March 13 and missed Argentina’s friendly matches against Costa Rica and El Salvador last month. This was his fourth consecutive game missed due to the ailment.

When the 36-year-old Messi will return is still unknown. The second leg of the quarterfinal between Inter Miami and Monterrey is set to take place in Mexico on April 10. On Saturday, Inter Miami will take on Colorado in an MLS game.

He’s feeling better every day. After the game, Inter Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino stated through an interpreter, “It would have been too much of a risk today.” Messi will remain game-to-game, he continued.

Wednesday’s meeting was the hardest of the season for Inter Miami, and in the 89th minute, Jorge Rodríguez of Monterrey broke a 1-1 draw with a shot into the top right corner past goalie Drake Callender following a careless pass by Diego Gómez of Miami.

In the nineteenth minute, Tomas Avilés scored Miami’s lone goal after a corner kick awarded by Julian Gressel. The 19-year-old Avilés’ goal came during a strong first-half defensive effort that kept Monterrey at bay. It was his first of the season.

However, Inter Miami collapsed after David Ruíz was dismissed for needless contact in the 65th minute and given a second yellow card. Miami was down a man for the last twenty-five minutes of the game.

Less than five minutes later, Maximiliano Meza scored a goal for Monterrey, taking advantage of a corner kick by Sergio Canales and shooting past Callender on his second attempt.

Martino stated, “The first thing is that we didn’t have enough legs to do the last 20 minutes.” Additionally, you have to be in excellent physical condition to play against a squad like Monterrey. .. Although we weren’t as dominant as I had anticipated, there were still times during the game when it looked like we would be dominated. However, having to play the final 20 minutes without a player proved an issue.

Callender recorded seven saves, compared to Esteban Andrada of Monterrey’s one.

In the 36th minute, Robert Taylor of Miami went down and grabbed his leg in anguish before leaving with an injury.