Interviewed after the loss to Monterrey, Tata Martino affirmed that he did not want to take risks when Messi’s injury had not yet fully recovered.
In the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Concacaf Champions Cup, which took place early in the morning of April 4 (Vietnam time), Lionel Messi had to sit on the bench and Inter Miami CF was defeated by Monterrey with a score of 2-1 at the Stadium. Chase campaign.
Inter Miami superstar Lionel Messi has had a right hamstring problem for nearly a month now. Although he returned to practice with the team on April 2, Miami head coach Gerardo Tata Martino still announced before the match that he would not put Messi on the field to avoid the risk of injury to the reigning Golden Ball. .
In the post-match interview, Martino once again emphasized the team’s stance on Messi: “As we said, Inter Miami has to play one match after another, and the whole team understands that this is not a match. that Messi can play.”
“Messi’s injury gets better every day, but letting him play today is too risky. There is still a risk that Messi’s injury will recur.”
“We will monitor his situation in the coming days, then come up with an appropriate approach in the upcoming match against Colorado and the return match against Monterrey.”
Gerardo Tata Martino gave an interview after this morning’s upset loss.
Messi’s former Barcelona teammates Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba all started in the match against Monterrey this morning. Inter Miami soon opened the score in the 18th minute thanks to a close-range cushion by midfielder Tomas Aviles.
The turning point happened in the 66th minute, when David Ruiz had to leave the field because he received his second yellow card in the match. Monterrey rose up, they attacked fiercely and scored two goals in the last 20 minutes of the match.
In the 89th minute, taking advantage of Miami’s defense, Jorge Rodriguez scored a goal to increase the score to 2-1, thereby bringing a spectacular comeback victory for Monterrey. These two goals give the Mexican team a significant advantage before the return leg at home thanks to the away goals rule.
Inter Miami lost despite having an early opening goal.
Despite having to admit defeat, coach Tata Martino is still optimistic about today’s results: “I am satisfied with the way the players played, we did not concede a goal in the first 45 minutes.”
“Playing against a team like Monterrey requires the players to have a significant amount of physical strength, and then having to play the last 20 minutes of the match in a low position made it impossible for us to survive.”
The Argentine coach said that injuries have significantly affected Inter Miami in recent weeks.
“I cannot have a negative view of what happened tonight, because we played well and we had seven players in the team out with injuries.”
Messi has been out of action for nearly a month due to injury.
Lionel Messi last played on March 13, he played 50 minutes for Miami against Nashville SC in the second leg of the round of 16 of the Champions Cup. Despite being replaced early, the Inter Miami star contributed to the 3-1 victory with a goal and an assist.
He scored a total of 5 goals and 2 assists in 5 matches in all competitions for Inter Miami this season.
As is known, La Pulga also missed both of Argentina’s friendly matches in the international tournament last March due to a hamstring injury.
