Lionel Messi fans are left gutted after traveling THOUSANDS of miles to see their hero in Atlanta… only for him to stay in Miami and miss the game!

Thousands of Lionel Messi fans have been left distraught after traveling across the country to see their hero play in Atlanta – only to find out he has remained in Miami and will miss the match.

Ahead of the highly anticipated – and sold out – MLS match between Atlanta United and Inter Miami, thousands of pink Messi jerseys were on display in the stadium, but their favorite player was nowhere to be seen.

DailyMail.com spoke to fans outside the 73,000-seat Mercedes-Benz Stadium who had traveled thousands of miles in an attempt to see Messi in person, only to find out he will be playing his first MLS match since joining Inter Miami to miss.

One family drove 10 hours from South Florida at night to attend the game in Atlanta, even though most fans had paid hundreds of dollars for the privilege of a ticket.

Until Saturday morning, Messi was expected to at least play a role in the match, but then footage surfaced online of him watching his son’s football match for the Inter Miami academy.

Messi jerseys were everywhere but on the pitch itself in Atlanta, leaving fans upset

Tickets for the MLS match sold out weeks ago, with Atlanta United staff even setting up additional temporary seating to meet the huge demand.

In the wake of the news of Messi’s absence, seat prices plummeted, with tickets being spotted online for as little as $40 in the hours leading up to the match.

Messi suffered a blow while on international duty with Argentina and missed the second match against Bolivia, but he practiced normally on Friday and coach Tata Martino was cautious about his involvement in the upcoming match.

In Atlanta, additional black seats were used to meet the huge demand for tickets

Fans stood in long lines to get into the sold-out stadium, but Messi was back in Miami

Messi was seen on Saturday morning watching his eldest son, Thiago, train and miss the match

Messi will miss an Inter Miami match for the first time since arriving in the United States

Some concerns had also been raised about the artificial pitch in Atlanta as it would have been the first artificial pitch Messi, 36, had played on since landing in the United States.

But until Saturday morning, fans had traveled to Atlanta as planned, confident they would see their man play at least a small role in what is a huge game for Inter Miami’s playoff hopes.

After being dead and buried at the bottom of the league’s Eastern Conference, three wins and a draw in Messi’s four MLS games have left Miami just six points away from the play-offs with eight games to play .