Lionel Messi will be available for the match against the Philadelphia Union this Saturday, September 14 (7:30 p.m. TV: Apple TV) at Chase Stadium, Inter Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino confirmed on Friday morning.
The news of Messi’s return to the pitch after being out of action for two months due to an injury to his right ankle, on July 14 with his national team during the 2024 Copa America final, is no less important just because it was expected.
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Leo trained this morning with his teammates as normal, while Tata Martino announced that he would be available for tomorrow’s match, although he did not say how many minutes he could play.
“Yes, he is fine now,” Martino said. “He returned to training yesterday. He is scheduled for tomorrow’s game and after training we will define the strategy for him, but if he is available. We always thought that Philadelphia was the game to return to.”
“He prepared for two months in a different way. Time was something to take into account if he had played in Chicago, but from Chicago, until now he had 15 days of good training. The fact that he didn’t go to Chicago had to do with the possibility that he could play minutes with Philadelphia or start playing.”
In this way, the Argentine coach of Inter hinted that Leo could start against Union and, as such, it is most likely, although it is unlikely that he will finish the match.
Leo returned to the training ground with his Inter Miami teammates for Friday morning’s session, the last before this weekend’s match against the Philadelphia Union.
Martino revealed that he had a sore throat that lasted a day and that he returned to training on Thursday and that there was some concern.
“Yes, because it was a little mixed bag, the recovery from his ankle and the throat problem that he had, which stopped him from training,” Martino said. “Yesterday [Thursday] he trained normally and today too, we are basically taking into account what has happened to define the strategy for tomorrow.”
For Inter, this match against Philadelphia is important because despite being comfortable in first place in the Eastern Conference, already qualified for the playoffs with 59 points, the team is fighting to win the Supporters’ Shield as the best team in the regular season and needs to reach 15 of the 21 points in play.
If they succeed, Inter will reach 74 points and will also break the record for most points in a season, held by the New England Revolution with 73, achieved in the 2021 season.
Philadelphia’s eleven have lost some key pieces and are in 11th place in their conference, but that doesn’t mean they are not a dangerous opponent. They are fighting to get into the play-in and that makes them more dangerous. In their last match, they defeated the fourth-place NY Red Bulls away from home.
In the last clash between the two teams, Miami won 2-1 in Philadelphia and now they have a record of 4 wins, 4 losses, and 2 draws.
With Messi’s return, Martino will be able to use all of his players, except for Matias Rojas (ankle), but above all he has Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Luis Suarez, the league’s third-highest scorer with 16 goals, and Leo Messi, top assist provider with 13. This Saturday Messi returns and there will be a party at Chase Stadium.
