Inter Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino has denied that Lionel Messi is injured, saying the Argentine superstar’s absence in Sunday’s loss to CF Montréal was merely for recuperation.
The Herons lost 3-2 to the Canadian team at Chase Stadium, their first loss of the 2024 MLS season. It was the team’s second game in a row, with five in less than two weeks.
Messi did not make the matchday roster, and Luis Suárez and Sergio Busquets came on as second-half substitutes. The encounter was sandwiched between two midweek Concacaf Champions Cup games versus Nashville, as Miami’s early-season schedule fills up.
Messi received a hard challenge from Nashville defender Lukas MacNaughton in last week’s Champions Cup game and is rated as questionable for the Montréal encounter due to a shin injury.
However, following the game against Montréal, Martino stated that Messi’s absence was premeditated before of last week’s round-of-16 first leg against Nashville.
“We talked about it about a week ago and we agreed that this was the game where he had to rest, regardless of what happened in the game with Nashville,” Martino said of Messi.
“Ten days ago I was asked if we were going to rotate,” the coach added. “And today we rotated. There’s no other answer.”
Messi and Suárez scored in a 2-2 tie in Nashville last week, and the two clubs will play the second leg in South Florida on Wednesday night. The series winner will face the winner of FC Cincinnati’s quarterfinal match against CF Monterrey.
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