New York Red Bulls vs Inter Miami prediction, odds, betting tips and best bets for Lionel Messi MLS debut
Lionel Messi has settled in nicely with Inter Miami, providing 10 goals and three assists through his first eight matches with the club.
Yet all those games have come in cup competition, and he will finally begin life in Major League Soccer in earnest as Messi makes his MLS debut against the New York Red Bulls on Saturday.
Or so we think. Inter Miami head coach Gerardo Martino was honest about needing to find rest for Inter Miami players throughout the remainder of the season, especially aging stars like Messi, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba, who are all at least 34 years old.
Given that Inter Miami are gunning for a mountainous comeback, needing to make up a 14-point deficit in 11 matches to reach the MLS playoffs, Martino will have to weigh rest with the heightened importance of each remaining fixture.
How Messi the captain is proving as extraordinary as Messi the player
Inter Miami have begun to show real signs of fatigue following the exhausting Leagues Cup and U.S. Open Cup schedule, and as a new-look team get set to attempt a truly challenging league comeback, Gerardo Martino has a real task on his hands to keep the players fresh despite the huge importance of each remaining game.
Still, Inter Miami managed to grind out draws with the best MLS has to offer, and the Red Bulls are not amongst that upper echelon. Sitting 11th in the league table, Troy Lesesne's team profile as one like the many Inter Miami shredded before eventually meeting their match against the league's best sides.
There's every reason to imagine that Inter Miami will take care of business here, even if Lionel Messi starts on the bench.
New York are a very defensively sound side, but defending this Inter Miami team is a whole new animal. Still, they
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