Miami: Inter Miami fans can breathe a relief sigh, since Lionel Messi is likely to return when the team faces the Galaxy in a major league football clash that will launch a key section for the Florida club, coach Javier Mascherano said Friday.
After sitting with a minor muscle injury, the Argentine star is back in training and seems to return to the field. The supporters will keep the crossed fingers, hoping that it gives the team a very necessary impulse in this important clash.
After Saturday’s Galaxy match, Miami plays the Mexican club Tigres UANL on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the Leagues Cup.
“Leo is fine,” journalists told Mascherano on Friday before training. “He has been training with the team since Wednesday. Unless something strange happens during today’s training session, we believe it will be available for tomorrow’s game.”
The eight -time Ballon D’Or Messi winner suffered a “minor muscle injury”, apparently a tension in the hamstrings, in the 11th minute of the lipstick match of August 2 against Nutaxa.
The 38-year-old Argentine superstar returns when the herons compete to recover from a humiliating 4-1 defeat against Orlando City last weekend.
Inter has stayed sixth at the Eastern Conference of the MLS with 42 points, nine behind the leaders of Philadelphia but with three games in the hand.
Messi, the most valuable player of the MLS, leads the gold start race with 18 goals and nine assists in 18 games.
Miami will be favored at home against the Galaxy, who are the defending champions of the MLS Cup, but they have sunk in the last place with the worst record of the League.
However, the galaxy described for the quarterfinals of the League Cup, and Mascherano warned that Miami cannot afford to take them lightly.
“For me, they are a team in which the classification of the MLS does not reflect its quality, especially the quality of its players,” said Mascherano.
“The reality is that perhaps the season did not start due to injuries and different situations. But they have improved a lot in recent months.”
