Is Lionel Messi playing tomorrow in MLS match? Latest news on Inter Miami vs NY Red Bulls as rest is required
Lionel Messi has been electric for Inter Miami since joining in mid-July, leading the club to the Leagues Cup title and the U.S. Open Cup final through his first eight matches with the club.
Yet at 36 years old, alongside 35-year-old Sergio Busquets and 34-year-old Jordi Alba, Messi can't play every minute of every match. The Inter Miami schedule through the remainder of the season is grueling, with essentially two matches a week for the next two months at least.
Only with the club for a month, Messi has played 714 minutes even before making his MLS debut. Inter Miami looked collectively exhausted down the stretch against both Nashville SC in the Leagues Cup final and FC Cincinnati in the U.S. Open Cup semifinals, yet they were able to grind out a draw on both occasions and win in the ensuing penalty shootout.
Now, with Inter Miami hoping to engineer an improbable playoff run and every match of critical importance, it will be up to Gerardo Martino to decide when to rest the Inter Miami stars. Coming up next for Inter Miami is a trip to the New York Red Bulls on August 26, where Messi, Busquets, and Alba are expected to make their MLS debut — if they are available to play.
An updated tracker of the players Lionel Messi has swapped shirts with since joining Inter Miami
It's unclear at this point whether Lionel Messi will play against the Red Bulls on Saturday. If he steps onto the field, it would be his Major League Soccer debut, having only played in Leagues Cup and U.S. Open Cup matches to this point.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Friday, the day before the match, head coach Tata Martino said he understood that many fans have come to games to see Messi play, but that he could not be swayed into a decision by
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