Inter Miami manager Tata Martino has suggested he may risk the injured Lionel Messi for Inter Miami’s US Open Cup final against Houston Dynamo in the early hours of Thursday morning UK time.
The former Mexico manager, who coached Messi as well as Inter Miami teammates Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets at Barcelona in the 2013/14 campaign, has said the decision will be based on how Messi is feeling but he is open to taking a ‘risk’ on the player:
“If it wasn’t a final, we wouldn’t take any risk, but because it is a final, there is a chance we take that risk.” The 60-year-old answered when questioned in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
Martino also said the injury that was suffered was the recurrence of an old injury for the 36-year-old forward. He has also disclosed that Jordi Alba is a doubt, too.
Messi, who has had an excellent start to his time in the United States, missed out on Inter Miami’s 1-1 draw with Florida rivals Orlando City at the weekend after sustaining a first-half injury in their 4-0 hammering of Toronto last week.
Since joining the club co-owned by David Beckham as well as Jorge Mas and Jose Mas, ‘The Herons’ have won their first ever silverware with a Leagues Cup triumph and have also moved themselves off the bottom-of-the-table in the Eastern Conference and into contention for a top nine finish and the end of season MLS playoffs.
Their aforementioned 1-1 draw with Orlando the other day means they have suffered just one defeat in 14 matches across all competitions since Messi made his debut in late July.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner helped Argentina win their third FIFA World Cup last winter as they triumphed on penalties over France in Qatar. He has scored 11 goals in 12 appearances for Inter Miami and has already moved up to joint third on their all-time goal scoring list, behind just Gonzalo Higuain and Leonardo Campana.
