Yahoo Sports A look at Inter Miami with and without Messi this season. The numbers might surprise you.
Heading into this year, if someone had told Inter Miami fans that Lionel Messi would miss 18 of the first 33 games, surely there would have been a mixture of panic and dismay. Club executives would have had reason for concern, too, assuming crowds would dwindle without their Golden Goat.
Messi is, after all, the Argentine icon, an eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, the reigning World Cup champion and one of the greatest players of all time. He packs stadiums wherever he goes, dazzles fans with his brilliance and elevates the play of his teammates. Inter Miami became a traveling pink circus last season from the moment he joined the team.
Everything centered on Messi on and off the field, and last year’s team struggled in the games he missed. The same was expected in 2024, but Inter Miami has proven as it enters the final stretch of the MLS season that it can function, win and even draw sizable crowds without its 37-year-old captain, although ticket prices plummet in his absence.
Not relying on Messi is vital as he remains out indefinitely with an ankle injury. He has not played since getting injured during the Copa America final July 14 and just this week returned to individual training on the field. Coach Tata Martino said Friday morning that Messi has been on the field doing solo work with a physio for three or four days and is making progress. He did not have an estimate for his return to full training or when he might play in a game, but said “it shouldn’t be long.”
Despite Messi missing 13 of 25 league games heading into Saturday’s home game against FC Cincinnati, Inter Miami boasts the best record in Major League Soccer. The team can clinch a playoff spot this weekend with eight games to spare, a far cry from last season, when the team finished in 14th place of 15 teams in the East.
Miami’s record with and without Messi this year is not as disparate as one might guess. Across all competitions, including the CONCACAF Champions Cup and Leagues Cup, Inter Miami is 9-2-4 (.600 winning percentage) with him and 10-6-2 (.555 winning percentage) without him.
Would opponents fear Miami more with Messi on the field? Of course. He scored 12 goals and provided 13 assists through his first 12 games this season. But his supporting cast has stepped up.
Between June 15 and July 27, Messi’s teammates won seven of eight games without him while he was at Copa America with the Argentine national team and then unavailable due to the ankle injury. They scored 16 goals during that eight-game stretch, just less than the 2.67 goals per game they have scored with him this year.
During the whole year, Miami’s scoring average without Messi is 1.77 goals per game.
The team failed to get past the Leagues Cup Round of 16 this summer after winning the title a year ago, but it was not for lack of scoring. Miami scored nine goals through four Leagues Cup games while its defense conceded eight.
Although the initial buzz around Messi’s arrival has waned, his jersey is still the hottest seller in the league, and he continues to have a massive impact on ticket sales at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale and around the league.
Inter Miami was the No. 1 in-demand team on StubHub heading into the 2024 MLS season, appearing in all the 25 top-selling games. Ten were home games, 15 were on the road. Inter Miami’s ticket sales were up 150 times what they were at the start of last season.
There was a sellout crowd of 72,610 at Arrowhead Stadium on Apr. 13 for Inter Miami’s 3-2 win against Sporting Kansas City, the fourth-largest crowd in MLS history. A record crowd of 65,612 showed up at Gillette Stadium and saw Miami beat New England Revolution 4-1. Messi and his teammates also drew sellouts in Los Angeles, Nashville and Montreal.
Even when Messi was missing, Miami attracted big crowds, partly because many fans buy tickets in advance hoping to see the Argentine superstar. That certainly was the case in Vancouver, where 51,035 fans were on hand at BC Place on May 25 for the Miami game against the Whitecaps and were upset to learn that neither Messi, Luis Suarez nor Sergio Busquets made the trip. They booed Inter Miami’s every touch early in the game.
A crowd of 47,218 was at Bank of America Stadium for Miami’s game against FC Charlotte on July 3 even though it was known Messi would be at Copa America. More than 30,000 showed up for Messi-less Miami at Nashville.
Inter Miami’s home attendance has hovered around 20,000 at the 21,550-seat Chase Stadium, with and without Messi.
Home crowds with Messi averaged 20,866. Home games without him drew 20,543, excluding the two recent Leagues Cup games, which drew 16,490 and 10,543 (on a stormy Thursday against Toronto, a team Miami had played a few weeks before). Leagues Cup attendance was down this year in many markets as the summer soccer schedule was crowded with European Championships, Copa America and the Olympics.
Whether Messi is in his No. 10 uniform or injured and watching games from a field level suite with his family, he continues to have an impact.
For one thing, nearly every Miami starter chose to join this team because of the chance to play alongside Messi. Busquets, Suarez, Jordi Alba, Fede Redondo, Tomas Aviles, Diego Gomez, Matias Rojas, Chelo Weigandt and David Martinez all signed after Messi’s arrival.
And they say they learn from him, even when he doesn’t play.
“He’s around, we see him every day,” said defender Noah Allen. “He definitely has an influence. Talks to a lot of guys. We see him talking in the gym. He watches us train. He stays around with us in the (practice) facility and comes to all the home games.”
Rojas added: “Leo is always with us. He observes everything. He talks to us before games. He is aware of what’s going on and shares his point of view. And for us, those are sacred words. I am honored to be enjoying this season with him. As I’ve always said, and will never get tired of saying, we are sharing day to day with the best player in the history of futbol and there are no words to explain how that makes us feel. To learn from him and the other three (Busquets, Alba, Suarez), it’s extraordinary.”
