Inter Miami forward and skipper Lionel Messi missed out one more game for his club in Major League Soccer last weekend when he didn’t take part in Inter Miami-Atlanta United fixture. Messi is making sure that he doesn’t play regular games and he recently came from international duty with Argentina. Now the big question is on Messi’s availability in Inter Miami’s MLS fixture against Toronto.
Miami boss Gerardo Martino cleared last weekend that the decision was about a rest for Messi. The club want to see the best version of the Argentine. Messi has transformed Inter Miami since his arrival and the club is now fighting hard in MLS. Each game is crucial as they are aiming for maximum points for the final series playoffs. The upcoming fixture against Atalanta would be a crucial one in pursuit of playoffs.
Leonardo Campana’s brace wasn’t enough against Atalanta as they suffered a 5-2 loss to Atalanta United. With this defeat, Inter Miami are struggling in the bottom two of the Eastern Conference table. The Florida club are 7 points behind the playoff position with one game in hand. They cannot afford to drop points in MLS. Gerardo Martino’s men faced their first defeat since Messi’s debut game in July.
Inter Miami boss spoke after the game and said, “This defeat hurts us and takes away our chances, but it is not decisive. There was a half hour when we were better and we took the lead. I have doubts about the tying goal, about whether the ball went in or not. There is no image that shows that the ball went in.”
Lionel Messi is the need for Inter Miami if they want to push for playoffs. The World Cup winner is playing on a tight schedule. He was part of Argentina’s first XI against Ecuador in World Cup qualifying. He scored a goal from free-kick and Argentina won it. In the final minutes of the game, Messi was substituted and set off the alarms. He didn’t feature in Argentina’s second encounter of the international break.
Inter Miami boss Gerardo Martino talked about Meessi’s fitness ahead of the game against Toronto, “Leo is fine, but we will wait until after training to make a decision. We will be careful with him because we have many important games in a short time.”
Inter Miami manager Martino also revealed that he wanted Messi and Alba to take a rest. He said, “They both have muscular fatigue. There were risks involved and consequences if they had come to play this game. It has nothing to do with the field. Absolutely not. We have to keep the day-to-day in front of us. We have hopes that we’ll make the playoffs, but we have the game on the 27th. That can make it difficult to make decisions because these are decisive games, too. The reality is that there’s a final to play. But the field had nothing to do with anything.”
Inter Miami considered his fitness and he wasn’t included in the main XI for the MLS fixture against Atalanta. They have a tight schedule lined up now. Miami will take on Toronto on Wednesday and on Sunday, they will visit Orlando City. Miami will also face Houston Dynamo in the final of the US Open Cup next week. The encounter against New York FC on September 30 would be the last game of this month. This schedule is the reason why Messi is taking time to get proper match fitness. He will be back for the side against Toronto and he confirmed this by sharing match picture on Instagram.
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