Lionel Messi was subbed off with an injury in the first half of Inter Miami’s 4-0 win against Toronto FC in MLS action on Wednesday.
Messi, 36, was substituted after 37 minutes by Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino amid a lot of bemusement but now the picture has become a lot clearer.
The Argentina superstar missed Miami’s defeat at Atlanta last weekend and that came after he also missed Argentina’s 3-0 win in Bolivia over the recent international break due to an unspecified injury.
Latest update on Lionel Messi injury arrives
Martino confirmed that both Messi and Jordi Alba (Miami’s star left back was also subbed out in the first half of the win against Toronto) will not play against Orlando City on Sunday.
“We have to go day by day, see the medical report, see what they themselves tell us,” Martino said. “We’ll monitor them and we’ll think about it. Obviously, there’s no chance they’ll play on Sunday.”
“In principle, it’s a scar from an old injury that’s bothering him,” Martino continued when asked about Messi. “The image brought with him from Argentina, there was no muscular injury. We also preserved him [against Atlanta], because of that scar.
“… I think it’s exactly the same thing, it’s not a muscular injury. But I’m saying that more than anything because of a talk I had with him. … Maybe we need to be more cautious than what I’m saying.”
Martino added: “I know we have a final, but in no way will they step on the field if they’re not in conditions to do so.”
Will Messi make the Open Cup final?
So, two of Miami’s stars are out of the game against Orlando City on Sunday and now all of the focus will be on whether or not Messi and Alba will be fit for the huge U.S. Open Cup final at home against Houston Dynamo next Wednesday (watch live 8:30pm ET on Peacock and Telemundo en Espanol).
All of Miami’s fans, and pretty much everyone aside from the Houston Dynamo faithful, will be hoping Messi recovers enough to play some part in the Open Cup final on home soil.
It seems like Miami are managing him very delicately as they would love to have him fully available for that huge cup final.
Miami are now just a few points off the playoff places in MLS and are red-hot favorites to win a second trophy just two months into the Messi era in Major League Soccer.
But they have to make sure they’re sensible with how they handle Messi’s small issue and hats off to Martino who is tackling the problem head on when many others would probably buckle under the pressure to just keep on playing Messi.
