Why Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi was so mad during victory over Montreal

Picture this: the Inter Miami forward was already on the brink of winning against Montreal when George Campbell came crashing into him. Understandably, Lionel Messi was hurt and even grabbed his knee while groaning in pain. There were two issues that occurred that MLS rules did not quite help with. The first being that Lionel Messi was forced to go to the sideline despite the pain he was enduring. Why was this the case?

The MLS clearly has stipulations regarding injured players staying on the pitch, per Lizzy Becherano of ESPN.

“If the referee stops play due to a potential player injury in which the player remains on the ground for more than 15 seconds and the medical staff enters the field of play, the player may be required to leave the field of play for two minutes,” the new regulations state.

So, Lionel Messi had no choice but to get up, suck up the pain, and go to the sideline. His emotions got the best of him at that moment. The Inter Miami forward then had some words for the MLS during their 3-2 win over Montreal, via Area Sports Network.

“These types of rules…it’s going bad,” Messi declared.

He also shook his head in much disappointment after being forced by the rules to do so. The worst part is Campbell, the defender from Montreal, was not assessed a yellow card at all. A lot of Inter Miami fans were livid.

Inter Miami’s qualms with the MLS rules

Expectedly, Gerardo Martin was upset that his superstar had to abide by a rule that forced him to go to the sideline. The Inter Miami manager posits that his player did get physical contact which was not in accordance with fair play and that the sideline rule is fairly dangerous.

“There are situations that must be revised. In Leo’s situation, he was clearly fouled. The player deserved a yellow card, which would mean Messi would’ve never left the field for two minutes. As I understand it, the team that suffered the foul was punished. With these new rule changes, there are situations that must be revised. The infraction was clear and was a yellow card, and ultimately it was us that lost Leo for two minutes,” Gerardo Martino said.

This was not the only headache that Inter Miami had to deal with. Gerardo Martino would then see Luis Suarez get subbed out for Leo Campana in the dying seconds of the game. Unfortunately, the MLS states that a player needs to leave the pitch within 10 seconds of the substitution call. Luis Suarez was unable to do so in this instance. It prompted the MLS officials to delay the substitution. In effect, Inter Miami just had 10 players during that time which clearly gave Montreal an edge. Martino had to express his frustrations here too.

“In the case of Suárez, we had a very important difference with the fourth referee in respect to the minute. We thought Suárez exited the pitch in under a minute, he did not see it that way and so Leo Campana’s entry to the game was delayed,” Martino exclaimed.

Thankfully, Inter Miami held on to their lead and still won the game.