Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano has said that Lionel Messi will likely be called up for the MLS match against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday, which would see him return to the field for the first time since March 16.

Messi suffered a muscle strain when playing against Atlanta United FC, featuring the entire 90 minutes before leaving the stadium with a hurt hamstring.

Due to the pain, the star forward was left off the Argentina national team for the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Brazil.

Now, he's expected to return at some capacity with Inter Miami.

"Leo is good, God willing and if nothing weird happens, he will be named to the matchday roster," Mascherano said.

The club took a cautious approach to the player's rehabilitation process, slowly reintroducing him to training alongside Inter Miami teammates.

"Well, we've been taking it progressively. Leo is a very special player in that sense, a player who, well, obviously sometimes needs to be restrained so he doesn't take risks, but he also knows his body very well, and the reality is that he's been training progressively more and more." Mascherano said. "He's been doing more training sessions with us, and today, god willing, he'll do the entire training session."

Inter Miami player Yannick Bright went on to confirm that Messi had previously been doing work separately, recently joining the rest of the squad for 15 minutes only before going off to do individual work.

"He trained with us for the first 15 minutes but he didn't do much so that's up to the coaches and trainers. I haven't seen him but he looks good," Bright said.

Messi participated in the first 15 minutes of training open to the media on Friday morning.

Inter Miami faces Eastern Conference leaders Philadelphia Union for the first time in 2025, hosting the opponent at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.