Lionel Messi came off the bench for the final 10 minutes of Inter Miami’s 6-0 friendly loss to Al Nassr despite initially being ruled out through injury.
The diminutive Argentine suffered a muscle injury during Monday’s 4-3 defeat by Al Hilal and an MRI scan revealed enough damage to rule him out of the second leg of their stopover in Saudi Arabia.
Cristiano Ronaldo was similarly ruled out of that encounter through injury, and although it looked like Messi would follow him to the sidelines, he came on as a substitute in the 83rd minute with his side already 6-0 down.
Inter Miami were humiliated by their Saudi hosts for most of the evening in Riyadh, with Al Nassr racing into a three-goal lead with just 12 minutes left. The first goals were scored by former Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte, who lobbed goalkeeper Drake Callender from his own half.
Brazil forward Anderson Talisca scored an Al Nassr hat-trick – mimicking Ronaldo’s iconic celebration after grabbing his third of the day – and Otavio and Mohammed Maran were also on the scoresheet.
Former Barcelona stars Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba started the match for Inter Miami. However, Busquets was the only one of the trio to complete the full 90 minutes.
In the 83rd minute, manager Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino brought on Leonardo Campana for Messi as he saw the closing stages of the match at the Kingdom Arena.
Inter Miami is back in action on February 4 when they take on Hong Kong League XI. They will then travel to Japan to face Vissel Kobe before returning home to the United States to finish their pre-season preparations against Messi’s boyhood side Newell’s Old Boys.
Inter Miami Player Rating
Callender (GK): 3.1
Allen – 4.0
Aviles – 4.3
Kryvtsov – 4.3
Alba – 5.1
Gressel – 4.1
Gregore – 4.7
Busquets – 6.2
Ruiz – 5.2
Suarez – 4.3
Campana – 3.9
Sub
Messi – 5.2
Al Nassr Player Raating
Ospina(GK) – 4.7
Al-Ghannam – 6.8
Laporte – 7.8
Amri – 7.0
Telles – 7.2
Brozovic – 7.3
Al-Khaibari – 7.0
Talisca – 9.8
Otavio – 8.6
Maran – 7.2
Aliwa – 6.3
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