After missing consecutive games, Lionel Messi made his comeback to the active roster on Sunday, but he stayed on the bench and observed as 10-man On a hot, sunny afternoon at Chase Stadium, Inter Miami managed to defeat Charlotte FC 1-0 despite goalie Oscar Ustari being ejected in the first half. Tadeo Allende scored the only goal in the 46th minute. In the first few minutes of the second half, the undermanned Miami team took advantage of Charlotte defenders who were dozing off. In the 46th minute, Allende gave Inter Miami the lead with a golazo after Gonzalo Lujan played him a long ball, which he back-footed to Luis Suarez, who then passed it back to Allende. The Argentine winger, who joined the team this season, scored his fourth goal.

“Tadeo and Luis’ creativity led to the goal,” Miami coach Javier Mascherano stated. Players frequently experience moments like that where they decide the outcome of the game in a single move. Tadeo is the player who can go deep on either wing, as we knew. And we were able to defend and maintain the outcome after scoring that goal early in the second half. Inter Miami moved up to second position in the Eastern Conference, behind the Philadelphia Union, with the win, improving to 2-0-1. Despite repeated chants for Messi from the crowd during the game, Mascherano decided to bench him and later gave an explanation for his choice.

“We thought we could give Leo some minutes at some point, but the way the game went, we thought it would be best to save him and not take a risk in that situation because he was down and had been out for a while,” Mascherano said. Throughout the afternoon, Messi kept a close eye on his colleagues’ attempts to penetrate Charlotte’s well-organized defense, which made it challenging for Miami’s midfielders. When Ustari was sent off with a red card in the 38th minute for making contact with Charlotte forward Wilfried Zaha during a clear-cut goal-scoring opportunity, the situation became much more difficult.

In three MLS games this season, it was Inter Miami’s third red card. The Pro Referee Organization’s Independent Review Panel unanimously revoked the decision to toss Toto Aviles in the 23rd minute of the season opener against New York City FC and to give Ian Fray a red card following the final whistle versus Houston. Mascherano acknowledged that the choices that result in cards are made in an instant, but he also stressed that they should examine each one and make an effort to steer clear of them going forward.

During his halftime message to the team, Mascherano reminded the players that they had beaten NYCFC with 10 men and told them they could do it again on Sunday. Fans chanted for Messi again at the 51-minute mark and the 73-minute mark, but he remained on the bench and never even warmed up.