Inter Miami has been eliminated from the Leagues Cup following a 3-2 loss to the Columbus Crew. With captain Lionel Messi out with injury, defending champion Miami faced the Crew, the reigning MLS champions, at Lower.com Field in Columbus on Wednesday morning.

Messi, who suffered an ankle injury during the 2024 Copa America final, had already been ruled out of the match. Despite the trio of Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets playing the entire match, Miami squandered a 2-0 lead and was eliminated from the Leagues Cup.

Matias Rojas gave the Herons an early lead, breaking the deadlock after just ten minutes, and the score remained 1-0 at the break. Diego Gomez scored two minutes after the hour to double Inter Miami’s lead, but Gerardo Tata Martino made tactical errors in the final 30 minutes.

The visitors, looking to defend their 2-0 lead, saw their advantage halved when Christian Ramirez scored the opener for Columbus. Diego Rossi, a second-half substitute, scored a brace, including the game-winner ten minutes before the end of regulation time, eliminating the defending champions.

Columbus advances to the quarterfinals, where it will face the winner of the matchup between Tigres and New York City FC.

Ahead of the crucial clash, Tata Martino admitted he had no idea when Lionel Messi would return to action. The Argentine was recently spotted on holiday with his family.

“Leo is progressing as expected, but there is still no precise date for when he could rejoin the group. He continues to work separately,” Tata Martino said in his pre-match press conference.

“When everyone is available, we are much more reliable and able to really compete. Our priority is to resolve the situation with Leo as quickly as possible while maintaining our competitiveness in his absence,” he added.

Although the Herons were unable to hold on to their lead against Columbus, they have been fairly consistent in Major League Soccer (MLS), leading the Eastern Conference by five points.