Inter Miami thrashed Toronto FC 4-0 on Wednesday, overcoming a Lionel Messi injury scare to raise their Major League Soccer playoff prospects.
After missing Saturday’s 5-2 loss against Atlanta due to muscle soreness, Messi was back in the starting lineup today, although he looked uneasy as he departed the field in the 38th minute.
Jordi Alba, a former teammate of his from Barcelona who had also skipped the trip to Atlanta, left the game in pain three minutes earlier.
The two are currently ruled out of Sunday’s Florida derby against Orlando City, according to Miami coach Gerardo Martino, who was also unsure of their participation in the US Open Cup final the following week.
“We have to go day by day, see the doctor’s report, what they tell us and we will decide. Obviously, there is no ‘chance’ that they will be there on Sunday,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s anything new or bigger than what they had been having. It’s just fatigue, I don’t think there is a muscular injury,” he said, defending the decision to play them.
“Everything was in place for the players to play … There is no possibility (that they were pressured to play). If we made them play it was because they were fit to play”
“After talking to them, I don’t have the same pessimism I had when I had to take them out,” he said.
Miami easily defeated the Eastern Conference’s lowest team despite missing their star and one of their most important players, with Messi’s replacement Robert Taylor scoring twice after coming on.
At the stroke of halftime, Facundo Farias scored with a powerful volley after Toronto goalkeeper Tomas Romero had clumsily palmed a cross from Noah Allen.
