Leagues Cup: Lionel Messi suffers injury against Mexican club, exits match after 11 minutes

Lionel Messi suffered what is being speculated to be a thigh injury in Inter Miami's Leagues Cup clash against Mexican side Necaxa.

The 38-year-old was summarily substituted off, a rare sighting in his career, after a brief attempt from the club's medical staff to treat him on the pitch.

After vanquishing Atlas in the first group stage game of the competition, on the 31st of July, they locked horns with Necaxa in the early hours of August 3rd.

Messi was named from the start, as was new signing Rodrigo de Paul, for his debut. The former Atletico Madrid man assisted Inter's opener, already showing his worth to his new employers, but not before he had to watch his national team captain go off the pitch early in the game.

The Albiceleste ace had a bright start to the match, having already had one of his trademark incisive runs through the middle of the pitch before opposition players eventually brought him down.

It is unclear whether the foul had a decisive impact, but Messi went down shortly after, clutching his thighs. The team's medical staff came onto the pitch to treat him before ruling that he was unfit to continue, and he headed into the dugout.

The injury comes after Messi's controversial decision to opt out of the MLS All-Star games, citing the need to rest. The match against Nexaca is the eighth match Inter Miami have had to play since PSG sent them out of the FIFA Club World Cup at the end of June.

Meanwhile, the match is ongoing at the time of writing. Telasco Segovia opened the scoring for the Herons almost immediately after the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner was replaced by Fernando Redondo. The Miami outfit were reduced to 10 men in the 17th minute after a professional last-man foul from Maximilliano Falcon, and Tomas Baldoni restored parity for the Mexicans in the 33rd minute.