MLS All-Star coach hopeful missing Lionel Messi plays - ESPN

The 2025 MLS All-Star Game in Austin, Texas, was supposed to be the first featuring Lionel Messi after injury kept him out of the 2024 event.

That appeared less likely after Monday's first training session, when Messi and his Inter Miami CF teammate Jordi Alba were absent as the MLS squad prepared for Wednesday night's game against a team of All-Stars from Mexico's Liga MX.

As of Tuesday afternoon, there had been no official communication that the duo wouldn't be participating. While Messi has dealt with injuries at times during his two-year MLS tenure, he has played every minute of Miami's past 19 games across all competitions.

If he or Alba sat out the game without a credible injury reason, they would be subject to a one-match suspension for Miami's weekend home clash with FC Cincinnati.

«Leo is more a question for the league, for his club,» Austin FC and MLS All-Star coach Nico Estevez said Monday in Spanish. «I simply coach and direct the players that they give me. And I think that's more a question for them. And I hope so. Because having the best player in history is something very important for everyone. But I hope so. I'm always very optimistic with everything. And why not? I hope that he can be here.»

The All-Star concept is foreign to most of the soccer world outside North America, and 14 members of the 30-player MLS squad are from outside the United States, Canada and Mexico.

But that hasn't stopped most of the squad from enjoying the recognition, including Nashville SC striker and Englishman Sam Surridge, who enters the exhibition tied with Messi for the league lead in goals with 18.

«Yeah, it is very unique,» Surridge said. «You get to play with some really good players. Training [Monday] was brilliant,