Tata Martino has revealed the injury suffered by Lionel Messi which forced him to ask for a move from Inter Miami to the Concachampions

It was an ideal first half Lionel Messi in view of Nashville in the second stage. Because right 22 minutes match, the Argentine was responsible for providing an assist Luis Suarez opens the scoring and scores the second goal with a left-footed shot after some great play Diego Gomez. However, after giving that show with InterMiami. who won 3-1 (5-3 on aggregate) and advanced to the quarter-finals of the Concachampions, was replaced at the start of the second half. Why?

The voice of the stadium announces in the 50th minute that Leo makes way for Robert Taylor. The change that Gerardo Martino decided to make caught attention, logically. But the reality is this The Argentine star had grabbed the back of his right leg several times in the first half.

“He has an overload in his right hind leg and I won’t take any kind of risk. “We tried to see if he could last a little longer but it bothered him, so we preferred him to leave the game,” Martino said in a press conference.

That same area is where he was massaged at one point during the first leg against Nashville. And he obviously alarms Inter Miami, who will also play this Saturday from 3pm (Argentine time) against DC United. Martino, for example, has already warned that he considers the presence of the Flea in Washington very difficult. The world champion left driving his vehicle under his own power.

In addition to that meeting, Messi also has the match against El Salvador ahead of him in just nine days (March 22), the first of the friendlies that the Argentina national team will play, who will also play against Costa Rica on the 27th of this month.

It’s not a new annoyance for the 36-year-old from Rosario, given that during the pre-season in Asia he was also forced to interrupt his friendlies. Messi was already back from an absence last weekend, when he was rested in Inter Miami’s 3-2 defeat against Montreal with the aim of safeguarding his physical condition after the kick received in the first leg against Nashville by Lukas MacNaughton.

Messi’s match against Nashville

Only 20 minutes. Twenty money was spent so that Messi could once again become a fundamental piece in the path that the team led by Tata Martíno is undertaking with the aim of accessing the next Club World Cup, through the Concacaf Champions Cup. The obstacle presented by Nashville was deactivated so quickly in the rematch of the series that started 2-2 in the first leg.

In the 8th minute it was he who broke the deadlock with a precision assist for Luis Suárez. An action to remember: the Rosario player receives from the left, controls and touches with just enough force for the Uruguayan, already running, to surpass the defender and end up in front of the goal with a subtle touch between the goalkeeper’s legs. The Tata Martino team thus began to top the table in front of their fans at the Chase stadium.

It was Messi himself who extended the lead. In the 23rd minute he commands a play in midfield, breaks free and looks for a shot in the center. The combination got dirty along the way, but Las Garzas regained possession thanks to the young Paraguayan Diego Gómez, who entered the area and touched for the captain who, despite being left behind, stopped and finished without problems.

The goal confirms itself as the best month of the year, or at least the most productive, for the world champion: of the 826 career goals, 106 were scored in March. Already in the quarter-finals, Inter Miami will now face the winner of Monterrey – Cincinnati, which saw the Mexican team win the first leg 1-0. The winner of the competition will qualify for the next Club World Cup.

Just before the end of the first half, Messi approached the bench as Martino gave heated instructions after poor resolution in attack. Leo hadn’t participated and looked for the coach to tell him something. After finishing, he ran into the locker room without waiting for his teammates.

A few minutes later he comes out with his teammates to play the second half and just four minutes later he is replaced by Robert Taylor, who – assisted by Suárez – scores the third with a header to guarantee the classification of Inter Miami, now without the best best in the field. Nashville scored in injury time, but Sam Surridge’s goal made no difference in the aggregate score which ended 5-3.

While he was on the pitch, almost 50 minutes passed, he did not deprive himself of anything: he made 36 touches and 24 of his 27 passes – 89% – were accurate; He made a save, won three of the four heads-ups played and in addition to the goal and the assist he generated a great opportunity that was not exploited.

Statistics aside, what really interests the Argentine coach, Lionel Scaloni, is that Messi arrives without problems at the next friendlies, the last ones before the final list to defend the Copa América title.