(CNN Spanish) – “It’s fine now, it’s planned for tomorrow’s game and after training we will define the strategy for it. He is available,” said Gerardo Martino this Friday, confirming the long-awaited return of Lionel Messi after a prolonged two-month absence from the playing fields.
The Rosario star will be among the players available for Inter Miami for the duel against Philadelphia Union, on matchday 31 of the MLS regular phase, after the ligament injury he suffered in his right ankle in the Copa América final on December 14. July against Colombia. What remains to be known is whether the Rosario star will be among the starters from the start, or will wait for his return from the substitute bench.
“Two months unemployed, but for which he prepared in a different way. “Probably the weather was something to take into account if he had played in Chicago, but from that game to here he did 15 days of good training,” Martino remarked this Friday, who had clarified the joint decision – along with Messi – not to travel for the game against Chicago Fire that the Herons won 4-1 on August 31.
The last game that Messi played playing for Inter Miami was on June 1, in the 3-3 draw at home against St. Louis City, in which the Argentine star scored one of the three goals.
In the current season, the Argentine captain has scored 12 goals in the same number of games played with the Florida team’s jersey. The injury sidelined him from eight Inter Miami games and the two recent matches of the Argentine team in the Qualifiers, in the victory against Chile (3-0), at the Monumental, and the defeat against Colombia (1-2), in Barranquilla. .
In the preview of the match against the coffee team, coach Lionel Scaloni spoke about the return of the captain of the Argentine team. “We hope that Leo starts playing and when we have to give the next list with him it will not be the exception to communicate. It will be in two weeks when we have to give it to him for the next game and then we will see if he is fit,” said the coach.
Inter Miami is experiencing a great moment in MLS, in which it is at the top of its conference table with 59 points, 8 away from its closest pursuer Cincinnati, which has 51.
Of the last 9 MLS games (with a stoppage due to the FIFA date of Playoff matches), the Florida team won 8. The only game they lost was precisely in the first days of July when they fell resoundingly against their immediate pursuer, in a tough 1-6.
“After the medical evaluation, it has been determined that Leo Messi suffers an injury to the ligament in his right ankle. The captain’s availability will be determined based on periodic evaluations and the evolution of his recovery,” said the Inter Miami medical report after confirming the significant injury on the day Argentina won the Copa América 16 by defeating Colombia 1-0 on July 14.
Far from that painful moment, the Florida club itself published on Thursday a smiling photo of Messi in the middle of a practice with the title: “We continue”, pre-announcing that confirmation of his medical discharge was imminent.
“The pain of parting is nothing compared to the joy of meeting again,” goes the famous phrase of the British writer Charles Dickens. Surely the top star of Inter Miami and all lovers of the beautiful game are experiencing some of these sensations at this time.
