The Leagues Cup 2023 round of 16 kicks off this Sunday night with none other than Lionel Messi taking the field with Inter Miami CF, who travel to face FC Dallas with a spot in the quarter-finals on the line.
Although it’ll be the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner’s first away game with his new team, he won’t be playing in Texas for the first time in his career.
In fact, Messi’s first appearance in the state dates back to the very start of his career, when Barcelona played a summer friendly match in 2006 against SC Club América at NRG Stadium in Houston.
The Argentine would come on in the second half for a 30-minute cameo in what would finish as a 4-4 draw, with Rafael Márquez, Ronaldinho, Javier Saviola and Samuel Eto’o all getting on the scoresheet. Incidentally, the LIGA MX side is a potential opponent for Inter Miami CF should they reach the Leagues Cup final.
The forward returned to Texas nearly a decade later, this time with the Argentinian national team, who played three games there between 2015 and 2016. The first was in May of 2015, in a resounding 7-0 win over Bolivia in Houston, in which Messi scored a brace.
Another friendly came in September of that year. The former Barcelona man would score a late equaliser for the Albiceleste to grab a 2-2 draw against Mexico, in a game where future Houston Dynamo FC midfielder Héctor Herrera and now-Los Angeles Galaxy striker Javier Hernández also scored.
His last appearance in Texas came in the semi-finals of the Copa América Centenario in 2016, when Argentina saw off the United States in the semi-finals of the competition with a convincing 4-0 win at NRG Stadium in Houston. Messi would score the second of his team’s goals on the half-hour mark.
Seven years later, the maestro touches down on Texan soil once again, as he looks to defend his unbeaten record in the state and send his new team to the Leagues Cup quarter finals. The game will kick off at 9:30pm ET (7:30pm in Mexico City). The winner will take on either Charlotte FC or Houston Dynamo FC.
