Lionel Messi sits out U.S. Open Cup final between Inter Miami, Houston Dynamo

Lionel Messi was not in uniform and left off the Inter Miami roster Wednesday night for the highly anticipated U.S. Open Cup final against the Houston Dynamo. He showed up at DRV PNK Stadium shortly before kickoff in street clothes and headed to the suites, where French legend Zinedine Zidane was among the dignitaries in attendance.

Messi’s status for the game had been the main topic of conversation in the buildup to the match as he missed road games against Atlanta and Orlando and came out in the 37^th minute of the previous home game against Toronto, citing discomfort from an old unspecified injury, according to coach Tata Martino.

Left back Jordi Alba also sat out the game with “muscle fatigue,” as Martino has described his injury.

Martino told reporters on Tuesday that he would wait until Wednesday to make the decision on Messi after speaking to him to see how he felt. Apparently, his injury is bothering him more than initially thought.

There were thousands of pink No. 10 jerseys in the stadium, but the Argentine icon was not wearing one. He wore black pants and a black shirt and watched the game from a field-level suite with his wife and children and with Alba and his family.

The game drew 52 rightsholders, many of whom traveled with crews from Latin America, and they were anticipating covering Messi in his second cup final since joining Inter Miami in July. Miami won the Leagues Cup final against Nashville SC in August. Messi has scored 11 goals over 13 games he played with Miami.

Asked Tuesday if Messi’s injury might keep him from playing the five remaining league games, Martino said: “He doesn’t need surgery or anything like that, it’s just a matter of how much time a player needs to rest in order to play the next game. If it wasn’t a final, we wouldn’t take any risks. But because it’s a final, there is a chance we take that risk.”

In the end, they decided not to take the risk.

Inter Miami’s Starting XI was: Robert Taylor, Leo Campana, Facundo Farias, Diego Gomez, Benjamin Cremaschi, Sergio Busquets, Noah Allen, Kamal Miller, Sergiy Kryvtsov, DeAndre Yedlin, Drake Callender.