MIAMI — A year ago this week, Lionel Messi made his storybook debut with Inter Miami, coming off the bench to score a stoppage time free kick and secure a 2-1 victory against Mexican team Cruz Azul in the inaugural Leagues Cup, a month-long tournament between all the teams from MLS and Liga MX, the Mexican league.

A sellout crowd, including LeBron James, Serena Williams and Kim Kardashian were on hand for the momentous occasion.

Inter Miami was in last place in the MLS standings at that time. Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and coach Tata Martino had just joined the team. Miami went on to win seven games in a row, including a thriller in penalties in the championship game against Nashville SC, and the team lifted its first trophy in club history.

It is an entirely different scenario for Inter Miami as is it begins defense of its Leagues Cup title Saturday at home against Mexican team Puebla (8 p.m., Apple TV MLS Season Pass).

For one thing, Messi is unlikely to be available for the game as he recovers from an ankle injury he sustained while playing for Argentina in the Copa America final July 14. Messi was in a walking boot as of a few days ago and is out indefinitely.

Another big difference as the team approaches this Leagues Cup opener is that Miami now sits atop the MLS standings with nine regular-season games to go. Former FC Barcelona teammates Messi, Busquets, Alba and Luis Suarez, who joined in January, are fully integrated, as is Martino. The rest of the roster has stepped up, as well, winning six of the past seven games without Messi.

Busquets, who was in Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday for the MLS All-Star Game, reminisced about that historic Leagues Cup run last summer.

“I have a lot of very positive memories, we were able to win a title after just arriving in Miami,” Busquets said in news conference Wednesday morning. “It was good for the team to disconnect a little from the league season at that point, as we were in the last place in the standings. So, with the motivation of new matchups and a different competition, the team made great strides and we were able achieve one of our objectives, which was to lift trophies.”

Defending that trophy is the team’s next goal. After the Puebla game Inter Miami travels to Houston for the second group-stage game against Mexican team Tigres on Aug. 3.

“We’re the leaders in the league now, playing well,” Busquets said. “But we still haven’t had our full roster in any game. We’ve had players injured, players gone for national team duty. I think when we are all together, we will be able to reach an even higher level. We will try. We have a tough group with two Mexican teams and hopefully we can use our experience from last year and advance.”

With Copa America and the European Championships dominating headlines this summer, the Leagues Cup has crept up on soccer fans, but Inter Miami players say they are ready and will be focused.

“It’s been a busy summer and there’s been a lot of competitions going on, but MLS kept going, so there hasn’t been much focus on the Leagues Cup so far, but now that it’s time for it, we’re up for it,” midfielder Yannick Bright said. “We try to take it game by game and now it’s Leagues Cup time and our focus will shift to that.”

The top two of the three teams in each group advance to the Round of 32. The points system is the same as usual: three points for a win, one point for a tie, and zero points for a loss. However, if the game is tied after 90 minutes, it goes directly to a penalty shoot-out.

“It’s a different format from usual, but I think it’s necessary,” Busquets said. “To have penalties at the end makes it more emotional. And to play so many games in a short window of time with such a crowded calendar is also difficult for players, they expend a lot of energy, so this format helps in that regard, as well.”

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