da spicy bet： Lionel Messi may be due a rest at Inter Miami, with Tata Martino admitting that the Argentine icon is feeling “tired”.
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Injury nursed during pre-seasonFigured prominently in 2024 campaignWill be rotated out at some stageWHAT HAPPENED?
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner picked up a knock during pre-season, which ruled him out of a controversial friendly clash in Hong Kong, and has taken in four competitive fixtures in the space of 16 days since the 2024 campaign got underway.
Watch Inter Miami with the MLS Season PassStream nowAdvertisementGettyWHAT MARTINO SAID ABOUT MESSI
After registering his fourth goal of the season in a 2-2 CONCACAF Champions Cup draw with Nashville, Herons boss Martino said when asked for an update on his talismanic No.10 – who took in another 90-minute outing and was subjected to some rough treatment: “Leo finished the game well, tired, with fatigue in the later stages, something logical, but he's fine.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Messi has helped Inter Miami to make an unbeaten start to domestic and continental campaigns, but Martino admits that there is room for improvement from his side after requiring stoppage-time equalisers in half of their fixtures so far. He added: “Here, as well as at LA (against the Galaxy), when it seemed hopeless, the team doesn’t let down, keeps looking for the goal and we got the prize, which was deserved because we did enough not to lose. This is a 180-minute game…we have 90 minutes more to play at home. We put the game at risk in the early stages of the first half and the second half. There were 10 or 15 minutes in each half that could have cost us the game. For about an hour we controlled the ball well and had chances, but we also could have been down 3-0 seven or eight minutes into the second half.”
GettyWHAT NEXT FOR MESSI & INTER MIAMI?
Inter Miami did trail by two early in the second period, but battled back through Messi and Luis Suarez. They have an MLS clash with Montreal to take in on Sunday, before remaining on home soil for the second leg of a thrilling Champions Cup tie with Nashville next Wednesday.