Tata Martino’s point of view on Messi’s debut at Inter Miami: the partnership with Suárez and the long road ahead

Gerardo Martino He walked away with mixed feelings about the debut of InterMiami In the MLS which culminated in a beautiful 2-0 victory Royal Salt Lake. He was amazed by the performance of Lionel Messi and it was composed of an excellent first half -especially when compared to the weak pre-season and the little done during the Tour of Asia-, but he also recognized that the team had a puncture in the second half and showed a version that he didn’t I liked it, beyond understanding it as logical because it is the first game of a campaign that will be very long.

Tata, who was seen very restlessly, pacing from side to side across the technical area during the second half, praised the superlative level displayed by Messi. “I saw him very loose, well, with a lot of speed. There is a problem with him, which doesn’t happen with other players in the world. “He can catch the ball even very far from the opponent’s goal and the feeling he gives is that the ball will end up in the goal”, he accurately described. Every time he touched the ball he was seen busy and busy. fast, as if it wasn’t the first game.

And he continues: “Playing one against two in the last play, feinting from the left and coming out from the right, after so much wear and tear… It makes me happy because he is obviously well, he is motivated and feels good physically.”

The Rosario coach was not concerned that both Messi and Luis Suárez, who showed his intelligence, but was far from his best physical potential, failed to score. “This is what should happen with a team. The normal thing would be that Luis, Leo and (Leonardo) Campana were more associated with the goal, but that Robert (Taylor) and Diego (Gómez) scored and assisted them is something positive. When there is a part of the team that depends exclusively on one player it creates a problem because it gives a lot of reference to the opponent.”

Furthermore, he was enthusiastic about the times when they met on the field and understood each other by heart. “When we returned from Japan we had three and a half days of rest and from there we started training together. It wasn’t just a matter of playing and resting as happened on tour, we arrived with several training sessions in view of the match against Newell’s and the start of the championship. Sometimes you really need it. Every training produces more knowledge. They know each other a lot, but they have yet to rediscover that partnership, which also worked in Barcelona.”

Yes, Tata didn’t like the second half at all. “We made too many mistakes early on. And Real Salt Lake deserved to draw.” And he even joked about the fact that five changes weren’t enough for him to reorganize his Inter team. “Ten changes I had to make.”

“In the first half we maintained more than we did in the first 20-25 of the match against Newell’s. Unfortunately we are left with the debt of the second half, because for the technical staff that is where we should focus most. The equipment can hurt you. Today we had a chance for Salt Lake not to hurt us and end up calling the game. “It won’t always be like this.”

Aside from the tiredness and some players who came out very tired, they like it Thomas Avilesor touched like, Sergio BusquetsMartino will continue to bet on this structure.

“I’m not thinking about a rotation. It’s the first match, however we’ll see how the players finish because most of the changes we had to make were for physical reasons. Maybe we should check it out, but no. I’m not thinking about any rotation or break for the second date because we are just starting to compete. We hope everyone is well, including that Nico Freire is okay. He will travel and we will see later when the time comes and the matches will accumulate, “he analyzed.

Inter Miami’s next match will be Sunday against the Los Angeles Galaxy. You will have to travel across the United States, but MLS is like that. The balance, for now, is positive. The team needs to come in. Furthermore, as Tata assured, recover and insert players to have a larger squad and be able to support the match during the 90 minutes. This is why he anxiously hopes that Benjamín Cremaschi and Facundo Farías can recover from their injuries as soon as possible and that Federico Redondo, the new arrival, joins the training.