Lionel Messi scored his first goal of 2026 at the weekend in a preseason friendly, but the joy was short-lived as he also suffered his first fitness issue of the year with the start of the 2026 Major League Soccer season just around the corner.
Inter Miami settled for a 2–2 draw against Ecuador’s Barcelona SC, with Messi scoring the first and assisting the second. But alarms were raised when the Argentine exited the pitch just 12 minutes into the second half and Miami eventually conceded the equalizer in the dying minutes.
