Lionel Messi, for the first time outside everything related to the Golden Ball, trained normally alongside the rest of his Inter Miami teammates with a view to facing this Saturday, November 2 (7 p.m.) at Atlanta United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, in the second game of the playoff series to the best of three games.
The Miami team won the first duel 2-1 at Chase Stadium on October 25 with goals from Luis Suárez and Jordi Alba in a clash where the local club was much superior but found a great Brad Guzan in the rival goal that rejected virtually all Leo’s shots.
The winner of eight Golden Balls played a great game and tried it anyway, but found an inspired Guzan who took them all out.
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In that match, the defense of the Inter Miami Ian Fray was again injured when the right medial meniscus was torn apart and the player will again have to undergo surgery in the next few days.
He will miss the rest of the season which will be another hard blow for Fray who has already overcome two cruciate ligament operations.
The Atlanta team plans for this second meeting to open the upper stands of its stadium so that it will be at its maximum capacity, 71,000 spectators, after playing all season with a capacity of 42,500.
The enormous expectation of seeing Leo and the importance of grief make more than a business a necessity.
If Miami’s eleven wins, Atlanta would be fired from the postseason, but if the home team prevails at home it would force a third match at Chase Stadium next weekend.
The winner of this key, presumably Inter Miami, will face the winner of the series between Orlando and Charlotte in the conference semifinals, who will lead the Florida neighbors after winning the first 2-0 clash.
Miami coach Gerardo Tata Martin is likely to repeat the eleven of the first duel at home with Drake Callender, Marcelo Weingandt, Tomas Aviles, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Federico Redondo, Jannick Bright, Diego Gomez, Leo Messi and Suarez, who showed excellent performance.
Benjamin Cremaschi, Matias Rojas, Julian Gressel, Leo Campana, and Robert Taylor, among others, will be available on the bench, ready for when the technician deems his entry convenient.
Inter Miami has had time to analyze the few mistakes it made in the last game, mainly in defense, and above all to fine-tune the aim after seeing all the shots (2 of 22) that failed in the first meeting, where they had 66 percent possession.
However, the game is expected to be more complicated in Atlanta, and there are not as many chances.
Inter Miami is the top favorite to impose themselves in these playoffs and win the 2024 MLS Cup, but you must know that the journey will not be easy and in this instance, all the matches are a final, whatever rival it is.
In the midst of this, Neymar appears to be buying a $26 million mansion at Waterfront Bal Harbour in Miami Beach, not far from Messi, to stoke rumors of a possible arrival at Inter Miami.
While it would be a great acquisition, the Brazilian star would not come at its best, in addition to craving as unworkable in the short term.
