In a rare postgame interview, Lionel Messi criticized the standard of refereeing in MLS and urged his Inter Miami team to stay calm amid a startling drop in form after a 3-0 loss to intra-state rivals Orlando City on Sunday.
The defeat was Inter Miami’s fifth in their last seven games in all competitions, with just one win in that timespan. The results have seen Inter Miami eliminated from the Concacaf Champions Cup in the semi-finals by the Vancouver Whitecaps, while also dropping to sixth in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference.
After Sunday’s game, Messi stopped on the field to speak with MLS Season Pass sideline reporter Michele Giannone, and used the opportunity to try to motivate his team.
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“We’re coming off a period of poor results, but we have to keep working and think about what’s coming up,” Messi said. “We have three or four games left to finish the month and finish in the best possible way so that we can then focus on the Club World Cup.”
He continued: “When everyone wins, it’s easy, but now that difficult times are coming, that’s when we have to be more united than ever, be a true team, and move forward, because we have what it takes.”
Messi also took aim at referees in MLS, saying that “specific errors” in certain moments have cost his team. On Sunday, Messi felt that a pass from an Orlando City defender that was gathered by goalkeeper Pedro Gallese should have been ruled an intentional backpass, only for it to go uncalled. Orlando ended up scoring seconds later, with Gallese firing a long kick to striker Luis Muriel, who scored Orlando’s first goal of the game.
Calling the incident a “strange play,” Messi told Apple TV that referee Guido Gonzales Jr told him “he didn’t know the rule and didn’t see it that way.”
“From there came their long pass and the goal,” Messi said. “Sometimes there are errors in critical moments. It happened in the last game, too. Those aren’t excuses, but there are always issues with referees and I think MLS has to look at some of the officiating.”
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In Inter Miami’s previous game, a 3-3 draw with San Jose, Messi was issued a yellow card for dissent after the final whistle by referee Joe Dickerson, who Messi confronted angrily as the players exited the field. San Jose head coach Bruce Arena stepped in between the two as Dickerson threatened to issue a second yellow, in effect saving the Argentinian from suspension and allowing him to play in Sunday’s game v Orlando.
“He was obviously not happy, and I wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to get a red card,” Arena said after that game. “I just tried to move him out of the way, because for him to get a red card at the end of the game would have been ridiculous.”
Inter Miami return to MLS play this weekend at Philadelphia, and will open the Club World Cup next month against Egyptian club Al-Ahly at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. Messi and Co will also face Portugal’s Porto and Brazil’s Palmeiras in the group stage of the competition.
