Lionel Messi will pull on an Inter Miami shirt again on Saturday when the club hosts DC United in Major League Soccer, days after closing out a 21-year international career with Argentina.
Messi's final match for Argentina was played before more than 85,000 spectators at the Monumental in Buenos Aires. He scored one goal and set up two others in a 3-0 win over Benin. He leaves the national team as its most-capped player (208 appearances) and all-time leading scorer, having turned years of international frustration into a run of success crowned by World Cup and Copa America titles.
Messi's immediate task is to help Inter Miami end a five-match winless run in MLS when they take on DC United.
Inter Miami sit third in the Eastern Conference with 46 points from 12 wins, five draws and 10 defeats, level on points with New England but below them because New England have more wins (14). DC United are 11th with 30 points from six wins, eight draws and 12 defeats, three points adrift of the final play-off place in the conference.
Inter Miami won the Campeones Cup on September 16 in their first match under new head coach Kily Gonzalez, but have since drawn with San Diego and lost 2-1 at Columbus in their two most recent league games. The club have won just one of their last 10 MLS matches.
Messi has still been in outstanding form this season with 21 goals and 13 assists in league play, closing in on a third consecutive MLS MVP award. Inter Miami, however, need more from the rest of the squad to turn their results around.
"Leo conveys that every day and spreads it to his team-mates; he demands that all of us be at 100% in every aspect," head coach Gonzalez said on Friday.
DC United are also looking to end a three-match winless run and claim their first victory since September 9. In the teams' most recent meeting, they lost 2-1 to Miami on March 7 in Baltimore, a match in which both Messi and Rodrigo De Paul scored.
