Messi set for Inter Miami return against D.C. United after Argentina farewell

Lionel Messi is scheduled to return to Inter Miami for its Major League Soccer match against D.C. United at Nu Stadium in Miami on Saturday, October 10, days after his farewell appearance for Argentina. Miami enter the match without a win in five league games. D.C. United list kickoff for 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time; at the time of the reports reviewed here, the match had not begun.

The change for Messi is immediate: after a final Argentina appearance described by Al Jazeera and Reuters, his attention turns back to a club trying to steady its league form. Inter Miami sit third in the Eastern Conference, according to D.C. United’s match preview. The fixture also matters to the visitors, who enter it outside the conference’s playoff places.

How Messi’s Argentina farewell ended

Messi scored once and set up two more goals in Argentina’s 3-0 friendly win over Benin on Tuesday, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. Their report says more than 85,000 people watched at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires. It describes the match as the end of his 21-year international career and identifies him as Argentina’s most-capped player, with 208 appearances, and its record scorer.

The match brought an emotional national-team chapter to a close before Messi’s scheduled return to club football. NewsJaws previously covered his farewell in its report on Argentina’s 3-0 win over Benin. The new development is Saturday’s scheduled Inter Miami fixture, where the available pre-match accounts establish neither a starting lineup nor an appearance by Messi.

Inter Miami’s five-match winless run

Messi leads Miami with 21 league goals, according to D.C. United’s preview, which credits him with 13 assists. The club also lists Luis Suárez with 13 goals and eight assists, and Rodrigo De Paul with 12 assists. Those figures show how much attacking production Miami can bring into the match, while its recent results show that goals from its leading players have not translated into a league win during the past five games.

Inter Miami coach Kily González described the standards Messi sets for the group in comments quoted by Al Jazeera and Reuters. ‘Leo is a person who every day conveys it and passes it on to his teammates, and he demands from all of us that you have to be at 100% in every way,’ González said on Friday. The remark speaks to the team’s expectations before kickoff; it does not confirm Messi’s place in Saturday’s lineup.

What D.C. United bring to the Miami match

D.C. United enter with six wins, eight losses and 12 draws, totaling 30 points, according to their official preview. Al Jazeera and Reuters place them 11th in the Eastern Conference and three points below its final playoff place. The club’s preview records two wins, three losses and seven draws away from home. It also notes that D.C. United have a match in hand, with a rescheduled trip to FC Cincinnati set for October 21.

The visitors’ most recent result in the club preview is a 3-3 draw at Vancouver on September 26. Kimito Nono scored twice, including an 80th-minute equalizer, and Lucas Bartlett scored the other D.C. goal. Forward Tai Baribo leads United with 14 goals this season, according to the same preview. Those details put the trip to Miami in context for a side seeking points toward a playoff position.

The teams’ previous meeting and Saturday’s open questions

This is the clubs’ second and final regular-season meeting of 2026, D.C. United say, and United’s first visit to Nu Stadium. Inter Miami won the first meeting 2-1 in Baltimore on March 7. Rodrigo De Paul scored first, Messi doubled Miami’s lead and Baribo pulled a goal back for United. The earlier result offers a direct comparison between the sides, although Saturday’s game starts with both teams on their own winless league runs.

The confirmed next step is the scheduled 7:30 p.m. Eastern kickoff in Miami. The pre-match reports establish the teams’ records, recent results and the significance of Messi’s return from Argentina duty, but they cannot establish whether he plays or how the match ends. Those questions require lineup and match reporting after kickoff; the available accounts support a preview, not a result.