Lionel Messi: Tata Martino Fires Argentine’s Warning to Inter Miami Players After MLS Debut Win

• Lionel Messi came off the bench and scored on his MLS debut for Inter Miami
• Miami beat New York Red Bulls 2-0 to climb up a place on the Eastern Conference table
• Head coach Tata Martino has sent a warning to Messi's teammates ahead of the international break

Inter Miami head coach Gerardo Martino has warned his players after Lionel Messi came off the bench to score on his Major League Soccer debut against New York Red Bulls.

Messi's first eight games for the club have come in the cup competitions - he helped the club win the inaugural Leagues Cup and reach the US Open Cup final.

After starting seven straight games and playing every minute in all but one, Martino opted to give the Argentina captain his league debut from the bench, much to the disappointment of the fans, as reported by Daily Express.

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He came on in the 60th minute, alongside Sergio Busquets and made amends for the disappointment by scoring a beautiful team goal in the 89th minute to wrap up the victory.

Martino fires Messi warning

The FIFA international window is approaching, but the American leagues will not go on a break. Martino warned his Miami players they must learn to win in their captain's absence.

Speaking after the win, he confirmed Messi will join Argentina for their World Cup qualifier games against Bolivia and Ecuador, which makes their lead and control of the game in the first hour a good thing for the team.

“In reality, I think we ended up doing it with the help of the subs as well. The importance is that we are going to have to get used to winning in these situations,” he said via Mirror UK.

“Leo’s going to miss at least three games. He's going to get called up by his national team and others too, and we know the team needs to continue to win in these times.”

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The games Messi could potentially miss are in the league against Los Angeles FC, Sporting Kansas City and Atlanta United, but he is expected to be back and ready for the cup final against Houston Dynamo.

MLS swipes 'script' conspiracies

Sports Brief reported that MLS aimed dig at conspiracy theorists who go about on social media with the claims that games are scripted in America to allow Messi to win it all.

The Twitter admin displayed awareness of trends and, before the game went to penalties, claimed mental exhaustion and that he wanted a different script.