Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano dismissed concerns over Lionel Messi's fitness, clarifying that the Argentine star was rested purely as a precaution in Miami's hard-fought 2-0 victory over Jamaica's Cavalier in the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions Cup round-of-16 tie on Thursday.

"I am guided by what the doctors tell me and the doctors have told me that he has no injuries or scars. He is tired from having played three games in six days, from the changes in the weather, from a lot of situations and since we want to take care of him and we intend not to aggravate that fatigue, we decided to rest him," Mascherano said.

At the Chase Stadium, the home side struggled in the first half against a resilient Cavalier, who created several chances and had a goal ruled out by VAR just before the break. But Miami showed greater urgency after half-time and took the lead in the 61st minute through Tadeo Allende, before Luis Suarez capitalised on a defensive lapse in the 83rd to seal the win.

Looking ahead to the return leg in Kingston on March 13, Cavalier head coach Rudolph Speid backed his side to fight for an upset but downplayed Messi's potential involvement.

"We came here to play Inter Miami, not Messi," he said.