Lionel Messi STARTS vs. LA Galaxy as Inter Miami eyes second straight MLS win to start 2024… with Luis Suarez also in the XI despite injury scare in season opener

Lionel Messi will start for Inter Miami in Sunday’s away game against LA Galaxy; Luis Suárez will also be included in the lineup despite suffering an injury in the team’s opening night victory.

Messi and the rest of Tata Martino’s team were photographed arriving before the match in Los Angeles, which kicks off at 9 pm ET.

Martino has picked a strong team, featuring Messi, Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, as Miami looks for a second consecutive victory to start the season.

Inter Miami is the favorite to win this year’s MLS Cup and Messi shined as Martino’s team kicked off the campaign with a 2-0 victory over Real Salt Lake.

Suarez got an assist in the win, but the aging striker was seen limping towards the end of the match. That raised fears about his health heading into Sunday’s game.

But Martino was always confident that the 37-year-old would be available for the match.

‘We are just starting to compete. Hopefully everyone will be okay on Friday and whoever is ready can travel,” she said earlier in the week.

Shortly before the team arrived on Sunday, Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham was spotted returning to his former home.

Beckham spent five years as a Galaxy player at the end of his career, helping the club win two MLS Cups before heading to Paris Saint-Germain.

This weekend he is battling his former club as Miami looks to make it two wins out of two this season.

Beckham was seen arriving at Dignity Health Sports Park a few hours before kickoff, signing autographs, posing for photos and walking on the same grass where he used to ply his trade more than a decade ago.