Inter Miami head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino confirmed that Lionel Messi will be available to play against Philadelphia Union on Saturday at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Messi is expected to return to action for Miami on July 14 after spraining his right ankle in the 2024 Copa América final.
“He is fine,” said Martino. “He started training again yesterday. He will be considered for tomorrow’s match and after training we will decide the strategy for him, but he is available. We will once again have the best player in the world in the team, so we are all happy with this situation.”
Messi raised concerns about his fitness after missing training on Wednesday with a sore throat, but Martino has since said his illness lasted just one day, returning to the field on Thursday and taking part in training on Friday morning.
“Yes (there were concerns) because everything was a bit related, the recovery from the ankle and just the neck problem he had that prevented him from training,” Martino said.
“But he’s been training pretty well and we always thought Philadelphia would be the game we should come back to. Luckily, that only lasted one day. Yesterday he already trained normally; we’re just taking into account what happened to set the strategy for tomorrow.”
Inter Miami currently leads the Supporters’ Shield and Eastern Conference standings with 59 points from 27 games and remains on track to break the Major League Soccer record for most points scored in a single regular season.
The team had previously secured a spot in the 2024 MLS playoffs, returning to the postseason after failing to qualify in 2023.
