Lionel Messi will not be playing on Sunday for Inter Miami after being subbed off with an injury in the first half of the club’s 4-0 win against Toronto FC in MLS action on Wednesday.
Manager Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino subbed off the World Cup winner after 37 minutes into the game.
Last weekend, the 36-year-old missed Miami’s defeat at Atlanta which also came after he also missed Argentina’s 3-0 win in Bolivia over the recent international break due to an unspecified injury.
However, Martino has confirmed that both Messi and Jordi Alba, who was also subbed off in the first half of the Toronto game, will not play against Orlando City on Sunday.
“We have to go day by day, see the medical report, see what they themselves tell us,” Martino said. “We’ll monitor them, and we’ll think about it. Obviously, there’s no chance they’ll play on Sunday.”
“In principle, it’s a scar from an old injury that’s bothering him,” Martino continued when asked about Messi. “The image brought with him from Argentina, there was no muscular injury. We also preserved him [against Atlanta], because of that scar.
“… I think it’s exactly the same thing, it’s not a muscular injury. But I’m saying that more than anything because of a talk I had with him. … Maybe we need to be more cautious than what I’m saying.”
Martino added: “I know we have a final, but in no way will they step on the field if they’re not in conditions to do so.”
