“Lionel Messi got genuinely hurt” - Inter Miami star hits out at MLS rule that prompted angry Messi reaction in win over Montreal

Inter Miami star Julian Gressel has opened up about MLS rules after seeing Lionel Messi's angry reaction in the game against Montreal Impact. The Argentine forward was left waiting for two minutes on the sidelines following a tackle on him, which left him writhing in pain.

A little-known MLS rule states that a player who takes more than 15 seconds to receive treatment and be cleared to return to the field must not return immediately. This was done to curb time-wasting in the league, and players have to spend two minutes before returning to action.

With his side 0-2 down against Montreal Impact, Lionel Messi suffered a clash of knees in the first half, which left him in serious discomfort. He was only allowed to return after two minutes and showed his annoyance to the officials in an uncharacteristic manner.

Julian Gressel was on the Player Manager podcast where he fielded questions on Messi's reaction afterwards. He then revealed that the rule needs to be revisited because it does not differentiate between a genuine injury and time-wasting.

“It was a clear foul where everybody thought they should be given a yellow card. It feels like you got punished because you got hurt. There needs to be some sort of discrepancy in my opinion; is the guy injured, he needs treatment or he’s faking it? Like we are down 2-0, why would he waste the time at that moment.”

“After we scored a goal we had to play with a man down for 2 minutes. 2 minutes is long if you are a man down. It’s what the rule is but Messi got genuinely hurt and it’s a black and white rule but there’s nothing we can do," he added.

Lionel Messi completed 90 minutes against Montreal Impact as his side won 3-2, but missed their most recent game, a 0-0 draw against Orlando City.

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Inter Miami's struggles continue without Lionel Messi

Inter Miami are in a bit of a worrying trend this season with their over-dependence on Lionel Messi. The Herons have struggled to find their best form when their captain is unavailable, and the same was the case in Orlando.

With Messi absent, the likes of Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets failed to lead Inter Miami to victory. This was the sixth game Messi missed due to injury this season, and his side have won just once.

Inter Miami boss Gerardo Martino will be keen to find a solution, as Messi will miss several games due to his commitments with Argentina at the Copa America next month.