Javier Mascherano confirmed that Lionel Messi from the Concacaf Champions Cup match of Inter Miami had come unused and could be confronted against Atlanta United in MLS.
The Argentinian had not played in three consecutive games in all competitions, but scored on his return to Jamaica to help Miami beat Cavalier on Thursday and continue to the quarterfinals.
The herons are unbeaten this season in MLS, despite the fact that a player is being sent to each of their three games so far, so that their last two won against Houston Dynamo and Charlotte FC without Messi in the team.
They are in second place in the Eastern Conference in the early classification and Mascherano had a positive update about their star man.
“We knew that Leo did not play the last three or four games, of course we wanted him to play, but had to find the right time to send him to the field,” said Mascherano.
'He felt very good [against Cavalier]He scored, Jamaican people could see him, so it was a great evening for everyone. “
Segubimos pic.twitter.com/hhm9ak5hoz
– Inter Miami CF (@intermiamicf) March 14, 2025
Atlanta is now Winless in two games; After they have won their opener against CF Montreal, they have since lost and signed without scoring.
They are one of the six teams at four points in the Eastern Conference, although they are at the bottom of that group with a negative target difference.
However, they will take faith from recent meetings with Miami, after they won their last two games against them last season, but head coach Ronny Danny does not think that the opponent means that this game is more important than others.
“It doesn't mean anymore,” said Deila. “They are three points and we want to win every game in which we find ourselves.
“Of course it is an exciting game with history that makes it even better.
“I see a lot of improvement from where I started and many players with competence. We have had some good moments and difficult moments, but that's what we had expected.”
Players to watch
Atlanta United – Emmanuel Latte Lath
Atlanta did not score in their last 185 minutes of MLS game, which last touches the back of the net in their season opener against CF Montreal.
Emmanuel Latte Lath had three chances to break the impasse against the New York Red Bulls last weekend, worth 0.69 expected goals (XG), with two of them classified as 'big' opportunities, but he could not find the breakthrough.
Inter Miami – Lionel Messi
Messi has not included a target contribution in five of his last six ml removed (including play -offs), including two in Atlanta United at that time.
Messi, who made a score-backper on Thursday, had been involved in at least one goal in 19 of his previous 21 road competition matches that go back to the beginning of the 2022-23 season with Paris Saint-Germain.
Nothing goes beyond this confrontation
– Atlanta United FC (@atlutd) March 15, 2025
Match forecast: Inter Miami Win
Inter Miami has only lost four of their last 34 ml matches from the end of March 2024 (W22 D8, incl. Playoffs). However, three of those four defeats have come across Atlanta United.
Atlanta won their last two games against Miami in last season's play -offs. The only two teams that Messi has lost in three straight performances are Bayern Munich (four directly from 2015 to 2023) and Real Madrid (three directly from 2020 to 2021).
However, the five stripes have lost five of the six home games, including the last three consecutive, in all games from the end of April to the beginning of June 2024. Since then they have only lost three of the 14 home games in all competitions (W5 D6), including winning three of the last four.
Atlanta ended against the Red Bulls last weekend and stopped them from having a single shot in their 0-0 draw. It was the ninth time that they did this in a regular season match, with only Columbus Crew (11) and Seattle Sounders (10) more often since Atlanta came to MLS in 2017.
Opta wins probability
Atlanta United – 28.6%
Drawing – 24.4%
Inter Miami – 46.9%
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