Jared Orellano squatted down at the front row of Section 108 of Red Bull Arena, the bottom of his face buried in his arms, his eyes staring directly at the man he came here to see. Lionel Messi was sitting on the bench watching his Inter Miami teammates as they warmed up on the pitch, visual confirmation of the bad news that started circulating around the stadium minutes earlier.
Messi was not in the starting line-up, the torrid stretch of six elimination games in the past three weeks catching up to the 36-year-old, just as his manager Gerardo “Tata” Martino had warned on Friday night. Orellano knew it was possible that Messi would not end up making his Major League Soccer debut against the Red Bulls despite all the hype building up to Saturday evening, but the realistic outlook did not make the pill he was swallowing any less bitter.