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Inter Miami's head coach, Javier Mascherano has provided with major update news regarding star player, Lionel Messi's fitness ahead of their clash against Atlanta United on Sunday night at the Mercedes-Benz stadium.
Will Lionel Messi start against Atlanta United?
Lionel Messi has been struggling with injury issues lately but Inter Miami has kept a check on his workload to prevent any kind of further setbacks. Javier Mascherano confirmed that the club has managed Messi's workload successfully and he is totally fit to start against Atlanta.
Following a demanding start to the 2025 MLS (Major League Soccer) season, playing three games within seven days, Mascherano straight away implemented a rest period for the eight time Ballon d'Or winner. It was a tactical move by Mascherano to look after Messi's game time.
It was due to this that Messi missed three games that included the teams like Houston Dynamo, Cavalier FC and Charlotte FC as part of the workload management plan. But, he made a return to field in the CONCACAF Champions Cup round of 16 clash against Cavalier FC on Thursday night.
While talking to the media, Javier Mascherano said,
There were some voices saying that we were taking a risk, but we had it planned. The idea was that he play 30-35 minutes in Jamaica to have good feelings again. In the end, we were able to find the time to do it well.
We tried to take away from the overload Messi had, so that it wouldn't go further than that. We tried to handle it in the best way. Luckily, we were able to control it and that it didn't turn into an injury or much more. Today he's better and we decided to start giving him minutes. There's no secret in this, Mascherano concluded.
Lionel Messi rolled back the clock as on his return against the Cavalier FC, he scored in the dying minutes of the match to secure a 2-0 victory (4-0 aggregate) as Inter Miami are in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
