Rodrigo De Paul emerged as the star of the day as Lionel Messi was unable to play for Inter Miami against Monterrey following the death of his father, Jorge Messi.
The Argentine midfielder dedicated his incredible goal to his best friend. Inter Miami struggled to create many opportunities against Monterrey without Messi, their best player and one the finest in the world. In the Herons’ second game of the 2026 Leagues Cup, no one could break the impasse until De Paul unleashed a rocket of a strike from outside the box, finding the bottom-right corner of the net to open the scoring.
De Paul’s Tribute To Messi
Rodrigo De Paul honored Lionel Messi’s late father on Saturday nite while playing with a heavy heart for his Argentina and Inter Miami CF colleague. De Paul took off his shirt as soon as the ball entered. But the Argentine was wearing Messi’s jersey underneath, rather than flaunting his tattooed body. De Paul showed his support for his best buddy, who lost his father on Saturday, by turning away from the stands and pointing to the number and name on his undershirt.
De Paul gave a tribute that seemed to be right out of a movie on a day when Inter Miami was grieving the loss of Jorge Messi.
De Paul Receives Yellow Card
After scoring against Monterrey, De Paul took off one of his jerseys even though he had another jersey on underneath. The referee consequently gave him a yellow card. De Paul obviously did not care about the card and was going to respect Messi and his family despite the fact that it was still early in the game and getting booked with the majority of the game still posed a danger. De Paul probably would have taken off his jersey even if he had scored later while already receiving a yellow card.
With one of the most poignant moments of the season, De Paul demonstrated that some things are more important than football. De Paul was so sure he would score and have an opportunity to thank his friend’s family that he wore Messi’s shirt underneath his own.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner has long been friends with De Paul, who won the in 2022 and made it to the 2026 World Cup final this summer alongside Messi. When the Herons acquired De Paul from La Liga team Atlético Madrid in July of last year, both players were reunited at Inter Miami. In remembrance of , De Paul and the Miami team wore black armbands.