FUNNY TIME – While Lionel Messi and his Barcelona teammates celebrate their League Cup triumph over Nashville, an injured Inter Miami defender named Ian Fray dances on crutches.
Several weeks after Lionel Messi dedicated a winning goal to him, hilarious footage from Inter Miami’s Leagues Cup final victory shows injured defender Ian Fray joining his teammates in post-game festivities and dancing on crutches.
The Herons’ 21-year-old center defender ran onto the field at Geodis Park to celebrate the club’s first trophy in its five-year history after the Herons upset Nashville SC in an unusually protracted penalty shootout on Saturday night.
After consulting with a member of Inter Miami’s medical staff, he hopped on one leg and raised both crutches into the air to join his teammates in a huddle.
On July 21, in Messi’s debut for Inter Miami and the Leagues Cup opener against Cruz Azul of La Liga MX, the defender, who is recognized as a hometown player, had his third ACL ιnjury in three years.
Messi wished Fray a swift recovery after scoring a last-second free-kιck to secure his new team a 2-1 win in an interview after the game.
Fray went down in the 26th minute of the game with no one touching him and eventually left the field in tears.
The Florida native suffered two ACL tears in his short professional career, the first one a month into his 2021 season and the second one in the 2022 preseason, cutting short his second season with Inter Miami’s senior team after graduating from the club’s academy.
While celebrating their win against Cruz Azul in the group stage last month, Messi dedicated the game to Ian Fray, who was in pаin in the locker room due to an ιnjury he acquired.
It’s unfortunate that after recovering from two terrible injuries, he suffered another one today.
Although Messi’s heroics helped Miami break a seven-game losing run, an injured Frey was a major cause for concern at the time.
The former backup defender has suffered a third and presumably last ACL ιnjury just when he was becoming a regular starter.
Fray was born and raised in the United States, making him eligible to play for either their national team or the Jamaican national team.
Messi, 36, is scheduled to make his Major League Soccer debut against the New York Red Bulls on Saturday, August 26, three days after appearing in Miami’s U.S. Open Cup semifinal match against Cincinnati on Wednesday.
