It felt like a battle of attrition – a grueling equation Inter Miami CF were on the wrong side of.

The Herons opened their Leagues Cup quarterfinal match night with the news that Lionel Messi would not be in uniform for Wednesday’s clash with LIGA MX giants Tigres UANL, sidelined again by the hamstring issue he’d just returned from last weekend.

“It would make the game 100 times easier if he was here,” IMCF defender Ian Fray later admitted, “but we still expect to win.”

The absences would keep stacking up on an evening equal parts surreal and riveting at Chase Stadium.

Surreal scenes

Even after the coherent, composed first-half performance that earned the home side a 1-0 lead via a Luis Suárez penalty kick, Javier Mascherano was ejected by referee Mario Escobar at the stroke

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