LIONEL MESSI will NOT serve a one-match MLS ban… despite receiving his fifth yellow card of the season on Wednesday.

The Argentine superstar, 39, was booked as Inter Miami drew 2-2 with FC Cincinnati on Wednesday.

Ordinarily this would trigger an automatic one-game suspension.

But due to a little-known MLS rule, Messi WILL be able to play as his squad take on the New England Revolution on Sunday evening.

Major League Soccer rules dictate that a player’s yellow card tally can be reduced by sustained periods without being cautioned.

Titled the “Good Behaviour Incentive”, the initiative states that a player’s tally of bookings can be reduced every time they appear in five consecutive matches without receiving a yellow or red card.

Messi was not booked in his first six appearances of this MLS season.

He then went 10 appearances without a card between his side’s game against Nashville on August 16 and their 3-1 win over Atlanta on October 18.

This means that his tally can be reduced and therefore he will be available to face New England.

Messi has been sensational for Inter Miami this season.

The veteran star, who came fifth in the Ballon d’Or on Monday, has scored 25 goals and laid on 13 assists in 29 MLS appearances in 2026.

His team are third in the Eastern Conference after 32 games.

Tomorrow’s match against New England is Inter Miami’s penultimate game of the regular season.

They will then host Charlotte FC on November 7 before the play-odds commence.