Lionel Messi rejoined Inter Miami CF on Wednesday following the passing of his father, Jorge Messi, as the team was eliminated from the Leagues Cup in a 3-2 loss to Liga MX side Club Leon at Nu Stadium.
Jorge Messi died Saturday at a hospital in the central Argentina city of Rosario. He was 68.
Messi, who was named to the substitutes' bench in his return, previously traveled by plane on Saturday to Rosario, where reports in Argentina said he attended a private memorial service.
With Miami leading 1-0 at halftime, Messi was brought into the game after the break and replaced Dániel Pintér, who scored the home side's opening goal.
"He [Messi] sets a great example. After all, he is surely going through a very difficult time, but the commitment he has shown, not just to the players but to the club, has been incredible. I've never seen anything like it in my life." Casemiro said. "We have to say thank you, thank you for coming here, for helping us, and for helping the club."
Club Leon, who have now won all three of their Leagues Cup games, hit back after the break with Daniel Arcila scoring the first of his two goals in the 50th minute. Yannick Bright put Miami back in the lead but Juan Domínguez levelled the score again before Arcila scored his second to clinch the win for Leon.
The loss means Miami, who won once and lost twice during group play in the Leagues Cup, are mathematically eliminated from the knockout round. Last year, Messi and Miami made it all the way to the final before losing to Seattle Sounders FC.
Inter Miami midfielder Yannick Bright admitted the squad was surprised to see Messi arriving at the club facilities ahead of Wednesday's match.
"It's incredible. I wasn't expecting it and it shows how much he cares," Bright said. "When I saw that he was here, all I thought about was giving 150% for him. It's a tough situation, so we're trying to stay close to him and offer as much support as we can."
Messi paid tribute to his father in an Instagram post earlier on Wednesday, opening up about the difficulty of playing through the World Cup -- where Argentina lost to Spain in the final -- while his father battled through an unspecified illness.
"You asked me to play in this last World Cup so many times and just before it started was when you were at your worst," Messi's post said. "It was the first time you were not at a tournament, but mum told me you would get better and you would be able to travel. I told you we would reach the final so you could. When each game finished, I waited for and then missed your messages. That was when I realized how bad the situation was. But I did not stop thinking about going as far as possible, to give you time and for you to be able to see a game if we reached the final.
"But you could not be there. I wanted to win it to bring it home and show you [the World Cup] again. I couldn't, my legs had nothing left to give. I tried, but I couldn't. You thought we had lost the final on penalties. We couldn't speak about anything that had happened. I couldn't enjoy anything. We were not champions in the end, but you don't know how much we enjoyed every game. You were right once again: I had to be there and play at the World Cup."
Miami won its first Leagues Cup game against Atletico San Luis, but lost Saturday to Monterrey with Messi away at the memorial for his father.
