A few minutes before the start of the match that Inter Miami will play against Rayados de Monterrey for the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Champions Cup, it was confirmed that Lionel Messi will not play the match. Despite having trained alongside his teammates in recent days, coach Gerardo Martini decided not to risk the Argentine, who It will not even be among the substitutes. The coach of the Florida team had advanced something in this Tuesday’s press conference and finally chose not to include it.
“Tomorrow we will define, today I don’t know. “He trained, there are still 24 hours left,” the coach began responding this Tuesday, to journalists who asked him about how the captain is doing with his injury. Furthermore, he added: “The main thing here is that Leo has had an injury and managing the timing of that injury. Although we play a very important game tomorrow, we have to think that it is only the beginning of April. All this is just beginning. What we should not do is put the physical conditions of our footballers at risk. What we will determine is fundamentally what is best for Leo, like any other player, and from there we will make the right decisions.”
Finally Messi will not be in the first leg against Rayados this Wednesday, He will not even be part of the substitutes. The ex-Bracelona player also did not arrive at Chase Stadium with his teammates on the bus. Without the Argentine, Martino’s team will be: Callender; Weigandt, Avilés, Freire and Alba; Busquets, Ruiz and Gómez; Gressel, Suárez and Taylor. On the substitute bench there will be: Dos Santos, Jensen, Sailor, Allen, Sunderland, Campana, Borgelin and Alfonso.
The world champion soccer player with Argentina has a “small injury to the hamstring of his right leg,” according to an official report from the Miami franchise. For this reason, he has been off the field since March 13, in the revenge of this tournament against Nashville, which was a 3-1 victory for Inter, and in which the Argentine scored a goal. From there he missed the two matches of the FIFA date with the Argentine team and three matches with the Florida team. This Wednesday will be the fourth.
This Wednesday’s game will be played at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale and will be broadcast by Star+. Next Saturday, Inter will host Colorado in the MLS, also on their home field. Then, the revenge of the match will be against the Mexicans at the BBVA stadium in Rayados and will be played next Wednesday, April 10, starting at 11:30 p.m. in Argentina. From there, a semi-finalist will emerge.
Who becomes champion of the Concacaf Champions Cup 2024 will qualify for the 2024 Intercontinental Cup (competition that replaces the Club World Cup). But also, it will do it at the first Club World Cup in which 32 teams from the six continental confederations will participate, in 2025.