After CF Montreal: Should Inter Miami reduce Messi & Friends' minutes? | OneFootball

Messi leads Inter Miami to 4-1 statement win at Montreal

The Herons' 4-1 drubbing of CF Montreal on Saturday was just the convincing win Los Garzas needed in their return to Major League Soccer after spending June competing in the FIFA Club World Cup.

Yes, Inter Miami (9-3-5, 32 points) should have beaten the Eastern Conference's worst team -- the Bleu et Noir is 3-13-5 for just 14 points -- but more than that, the Herons needed to beat Montreal convincingly to maintain the momentum they began building in May. Miami's only loss in its past eight matches was to European champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup. And really, that one doesn't hurt.

But resuming league play with anything less than a dominant performance against Montreal would have been disheartening. Thankfully, the Pink & Black didn't let us down. Coach Javier Mascherano was pleased with the club's effort, especially after falling behind in the second minute when a rare Lionel Messi blunder led to Prince Owusu scoring Montreal's only goal.

Messi redeemed himself with two of the Herons' four impressive, well-struck goals and an assist. Tadeo Allende and Telasco Segovia had Miami's other scores.

Can Messi & Co. keep up the pace in the second half?

Mascherano used all five substitutions Saturday, but none of his former Barcelona teammates -- Messi, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez -- came off the pitch. With six matches remaining in July, some supporters are questioning the first-year coach's judgment. Suarez and Messi are 38, Alba and Busquets are 36 -- still young men, but aging elders in soccer terms. Yet, Mascherano -- who turned 41 in June -- continues to play his friends major minutes.

Unofficially, the Herons have played 2,793 minutes across three competitions in 2025: Concacaf Champions Cup (eight matches, 772 minutes), FIFA Club World Cup (four matches, 389 minutes), and the Major League Soccer regular season (17 matches, about 1,632 minutes -- I estimated six added minutes per match). Again, unofficially, Busquets leads all Inter Miami players with more than 2,400 minutes played; he's been on the field a little more than 86 percent of the time for the Pink. Suarez has played about 2,200 minutes (80 percent), Messi almost 2,200 minutes (78.3 percent) and Alba just more than 2,000 minutes (73.2 percent).

After the Montreal match, Mascherano made it clear that Messi will play unless he doesn't want to.

“We have to understand that Leo is happy playing soccer and whenever he is fit to play, he will play, because he is happiest on the field,” Mascherano said. “Clearly, we have a plus, an extra advantage, when he plays, and we want to use that advantage as much as possible and in as many games as possible. He’s clearly a different player and we’re lucky to have him, to have him playing for us. And today he made the difference again.”

So, Messi is untouchable. And the others? Busquets and Suarez, while still important cogs in Miami's machine, have noticeably slowed and, despite their effort, are defensive liabilities with diminishing offensive production. Jordi Alba doesn't cover ground as quickly as he once did and is beginning to have injury problems although, thankfully, nothing serious. Hopefully, Mascherano will find them some time off before the Herons begin their Leagues Cup group stage against Atlas on July 31.

“Clearly, we have a lot of games coming up, plus all the ones we have already played, so we will need everyone to participate,” Mascherano said Friday. “We’ll see how we can manage some roster changes without feeling it too much because I don’t like to change six or seven players from one match to the other.”