“The stars are matched” for Lionel Messi to expand his stay at Inter Miami, managing owner Jorge Mas declared before the MLS collision with the Chicago Fire.
Messi was committed to a first deal of two and a half years when he first arrived in the United States halfway through the 2023 season, with his contract that ends later this year.
However, that deal contains an option for the Argentinian to extend for another 12 months and after his good start until 2025, the club wants to exercise that clause.
Messi scored twice and left another goal allowed on Wednesday when Miami recovered from a 2-0 aggregated deficit to dump Los Angeles FC from the Concacaf Champions Cup.
And in MLS, Messi has delivered three goals and two assists, even though it is limited to only three starts this year, after he had sustained a muscle injury last month.
Asked for an update about the future of Messi, Mas told Futbol de Primera: “My expectation is that we will see the leader of the team and number 10, Lionel Messi, in the new stadium [which is due to open next year].
“It is a decision. We are talking to him about his future in the club. All stars are in line with really great things, a wonderful future for the club and for Lionel.
“It is up to him, but I expect that we will determine this in the next 60 or 90 days because it is important to plan ahead.
“He will be another member of the club when he retires, an acting shareholder, and he wants to leave it as an inheritance to his children.
“We have a very nice, respectful relationship with him and I let him live his life peacefully.”
Miami is one of only two undefeated teams in MLS this season and collects 14 points of their six games for a point behind the Eastern Conference leaders, the Columbus -Crrew, who have played an extra game.
In the meantime, Chicago has taken 11 points of seven games to be seventh in the east, after he supported the conference last season.
Speaking of the overlap us, first -year head coach Gregg Berhalter said about the start of his team: “I think it has been good. The group has shown that we can compete.
“We still want to start changing the mindset and for us it's about doing the little things that will help us win games more often.”
Learning from our mistakes and are looking to bounce back #cf97 pic.twitter.com/mi0hswz4xw
– Chicago Fire FC (@Chicagofire) April 11, 2025
Players to watch
Chicago Fire – Philip Zinckernagel
Six of the last seven goals from Chicago, including the last five in a row, are left. Six different players have already yielded a left-foot goal for the fire this season.
Zinckernagel has two this season. Only Hugo Cuypers (five) has scored more goals for the fire in general.
Inter Miami – Lionel Messi
Last week's 1-1 draw with FC Toronto was Messi's third consecutive regular season match with a goal, and his fifth upright with a target contribution.
Since the beginning of last season, Messi has 35 direct target contributions (23 goals, 12 assists) in 23 games, and only fails to contribute five times to a goal in that period.
Match Prediction – Inter Miami Win
Chicago has won only one of their last nine home games in all competitions (D4 L4) dating from mid -July 2024.
The fire has avoided the defeat in four of their last five at home (W1 D3), but they are outsiders for this one.
Miami won both meetings with The Fire last season, including a 4-1 victory in Chicago for their first way victory in the series. The fire had only lost one of the first six meetings between the sides (W4 D1).
De Herigers also won 12 of their last 16 regular season races (D3 L1) from last April, including winning their last four in a row.
The 39 points of Miami on their last 16-way matches are the same as most in a wingspan of 16 road matches in the history of MLS (in addition to FC Cincinnati in 2023-24, La Galaxy in 1997-98).
Eyes on the Windy City pic.twitter.com/H3QCMK4IER
– Inter Miami CF (@intermiamicf) April 11, 2025
Opta wins probability
Chicago Fire – 21.5%
Inter Miami – 56.7%
Drawing – 21.8%
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