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MIAMI: Luis Suarez scored a penalty in each half to give Inter Miami a 2-1 victory over Tigres UANL on Wednesday, stepping up to fill the void after Lionel Messi was ruled out of the Leagues Cup quarter-final clash.
Messi, who has battled a “minor” muscle injury since a Leagues Cup group match on August 2, returned Saturday after a two-week absence, scoring a goal after coming on as a substitute in a 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Galaxy.
However, the 38-year-old World Cup winner was ruled out against Tigres as Inter advanced in the cross-border club competition for teams from Major League Soccer and Mexico’s Liga-MX.
“We rely on how Leo feels and it wasn’t the best,” Inter assistant coach Javier Morales said. “We preferred not to take risks, not to go backward in his recovery.”
In a duel that produced few scoring chances, veteran Uruguay striker Suarez was the difference as Inter kept alive their hopes of regaining the title they won in 2023, during Messi’s first season in MLS.
Things swung Miami’s way in the 20th minute when Javier Aquino slid to intercept a cross and the ball hit his left arm in the area.
The referee awarded the penalty and the 38-year-old Suarez converted.
Tempers flared, with Suarez moving to calm things down after Miami teammate Rodrigo De Paul and Uruguayan compatriot Fernando Gorriaran exchanged words.
Inter coach Javier Mascherano was sent off at half time, receiving a red card for heated protestations to officials after injury time dragged on past what had been indicated.
Mascherano watched from a front row of the stands when Tigres grabbed their equalizer in the 67th minute, Angel Correa slipping between two defenders and beating Miami keeper Oscar Ustari.
Another handball by Aquino in the 87th minute, confirmed by VAR, gave Miami another penalty and Suarez converted again, this time going left as goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman dived in the opposite direction.
“The game was really difficult because they played very well,” Suarez said. “Every day I just try my best to help the team win.”
Miami booked a semifinal clash with Florida rivals Orlando City, who beat Liga MX champions Toluca FC 6-5 on penalties after the teams played to a scoreless draw in Carson, California.
Orlando goalkeeper Pedro Gallese was the hero, saving two penalties in the shootout and scoring the decisive penalty himself.
Orlando beat Miami 4-1 in an MLS clash this month in which Messi was missing.
In the remaining two quarter-finals on Wednesday, Los Angeles Galaxy hosted Pachuca, while the Seattle Sounders take on Puebla at home.
There’s more at stake than the Leagues Cup trophy.
Both finalists and the third-place match winner will qualify for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, with the Leagues Cup champion securing direct entry to the Champions Cup round of 16.

GENEVA: Lawyers for former France international Lassana Diarra said Monday he is claiming €65 million ($76 million) from FIFA and the Belgian Football Federation after a landmark legal win about transfer rules.

Diarra’s decade-long challenge to FIFA after a breakdown in relations with his former club Lokomotiv Moscow led to a ruling at the European Court of Justice last October that some aspects of football transfer rules do not comply with the 27-nation European Union’s labor and competition laws.

Lawyers for the 40-year-old former Chelsea, Arsenal and Real Madrid midfielder cited “unsuccessful settlement negotiations with FIFA” for the financial claim for damages throughout his career.

“Lassana Diarra is claiming €65 million gross (€35 million net) in compensation from FIFA and the Belgian Football Association,” his legal firm Dupont Hissel said in a statement.

FIFA said it would not comment about “on-going legal matters” — the latest high-stakes legal challenge to their authority.

Football’s governing body said in a statement it “has been working with its stakeholders to amend its regulations following the guidance offered by the ECJ.”

Diarra’s case, which is back in court in Belgium, is supported by the global players’ union FIFPRO, its European division and their national member union in France.

The legal case started in the home country of Charleroi, the Belgian club that wanted to sign Diarra after his contract in Moscow was terminated.

FIFA transfer rules at the time made the player and the potential signing club liable for paying the former club when a contract was ruled to have been broken without “just cause.” The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld FIFA’s ruling in favor of Lokomotiv.

The case was sent to the European court in Luxembourg which said some aspects of the FIFA rules “hinder the free movement of players and competition between clubs.”

Diarra’s dispute with Lokomotiv and FIFA forced him to miss the 2014-15 season. He then signed for Marseille and ended his career at Paris Saint-Germain six years ago.

“I am doing this for myself,” Diarra said in a statement Monday published by his lawyers. “And if I have been able to hold out against the FIFA steamroller, it is because I had a good career.”

“But I have also done it for all the up and coming, lesser known players who do not have the financial and psychological means to challenge FIFA before real judges,” he said.

Diarra’s lawyers also are working on a class action suit filed this month against FIFA and some national football federations in Europe which claims could benefit 100,000 players over more than two decades.