Inter Miami CF’s Lionel Messi on Wednesday had a goal and an assist before he exited the game after a leg injury and watched his team top Nashville SC 3-1 in the second leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup round-of-16 match.
Inter Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino addressed Messi’s leg injury revealing that the the Argentinian soccer legend will likely miss Saturday’s Major League Soccer (MLS) match against the DC United.
The team will take a cautious approach to Messi’s injury avoiding any “risks”.
Martino said: “I don’t want to take any risks but I imagine that he won’t be available for Saturday’s game. That’s the only thing I can say about it now. We’ll have some tests soon and we’ll see how he feels.”
However, Messi, who was benched during the team’s 3-2 loss to CF Montréal earlier this week, didn’t appear to be injured as he exited the field to be replaced by Robert Taylor.
“Leo has a muscle overload in his right leg. We don’t want to take any kind of risk with him,” Martino added. “We tried to see if he could last a little longer after halftime, but it was bothering him, so we preferred to take him out the game.”
Read Also: Amuneke, Finidi, Oliseh, Amokachi, eight others apply for Super Eagles job
Messi’s exit in the 50th minute marked the earliest he has been subbed off in the second half of a match in his career.
He assisted his former Barcelona teammate Luis Suárez in the 8th minute for his fifth goal of the season, putting his team at a 2-0 lead.
“We knew when the season started that Messi was not going to play all games,” Martino said. “If he’s not playing or we have to replace him, for me it’s not just missing out any other player, he’s the best player of all time.”
The team advanced with a 5-3 aggregate score and is now set to face the winner of Monterrey vs FC Cincinnati in the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Champions Cup on next month.
