Lionel Messi fails Inter Miami at MLS playoffs, coach Tata Martino opens his mouth

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Lionel Messi was on the pitch as a second-half substitute to see FC Cincinnati beat Inter Miami by one goal to nil. The latest result removed Inter Miami from the 2023 MLS playoffs, and coach Tata Martino has secrets to leak.

Lionel Messi’s arrival in the United States of America was met with a lot of excitement and high expectations. The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner did not give an inconsequential introductory performance either, leading the below-average team to the hoisting of their first ever Leagues Cup title last season.

Even coach Tata Martino did not expect that fit, as he revealed in a statement he gave after things became very bad for the club at the 2023 MLS playoffs, when FC Cincinnati hammered in the last nail on the coffin of Inter Miami’s hope. The fact that the coach reached a deal with Lionel Messi, succeeding in dragging him out of the bed of rest, did not change anything.

Fans’ chanting of the lineal-GOAT’s name in the DRV PMK Stadium when Tata Martino decided to bring him in as a wildcard might have been wasted at best, as the player watched his team suffer a blow but was unable to facilitate a reply.

Tata Martino and Lionel Messi in the match against FC Cincinnati

In the past, coach Tata Martino announced that for no reason would Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba be included in any contest for the club until they were healed of their injuries.

Yesterday’s was the second time Tata Martino seemed to break this promise, but the result was unsavoury in both cases. Though Inter Miami won the first one, Lionel Messi had to be removed in the first half because of his half-disclosed injury. Coach Tata Martino has said what was really the superstar’s injury, but the fact is that the injury was picked up while Lionel Messi was serving his country.

The player’s return to the United States was greeted by a loss his club suffered while he rested because the coach deemed it better to let his body get back in order.

Now that the club’s MLS playoff dreams have been a waste, the coach revealed his initial feelings about Messi’s introductory performance: ‘The season, really, I thought it was going to be completely different from what happened. My expectations were to create the group, train them in our style of soccer, don’t go too deep in the Leagues Cup, and compete very well—because we only had two games in the cup—and to be classified [for the play-offs].’

The coach recently said the team was overworking; he pointed out that the accumulation of games was part of the challenges the team met.

‘We had our most wonderful moments until the [September] FIFA dates. And we had problems after that because of an accumulation of games and injuries.

‘Up to that point, we had an idea – it wasn’t trained very well, but it was very clear in the players’ heads. I believe that with the losses we started to have, the modifications we started to make, so many variables in the team changed from one game to the next – because we had to modify it to be able to take care of our players – we deteriorated our idea.

‘In the last 20 days, we had our worst time of the year, of course when we had the most need to have the team as healthy as possible.’

It is clear he still hopes for the good results that would greet Lionel Messi’s recovery, but he might wait until next year to see his hope become reality.