Inter Miami hit back at Monterrey: “Everyone has to be held responsible for what they say”

The stakes ahead of Wednesday’s CONCACAF Champions Cup return leg in Monterey are getting higher with each passing day as details of the fracas in the tunnel following the first leg continue to emerge.

Inter Miami lost the first leg through a late winner for the Liga MX team with the MLS side forced to play approximately half an hour with just ten men after David Ruiz was red carded. Many Miami players including Jordi Alba and Luis Suarez showed their frustration with match official, experienced referee Walter López.

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Trouble really flared up in the tunnel post Game with Leo Messi (who was ruled out of the Game through injury) and Heron’s head coach Tata Martino extremely vocal as they crossed paths with the officiating team post Game.

The incident was relayed by Rayados assistant coach Nico Sanchez in a leaked Whatsapp voice note message with the Rayados number two claiming: “It was plain to see that Messi was livid and just at that point the match officials came through, Messi takes them to task and calls them out but in a hostile manner as Tata Martino approaches and he too has very heated words with the refereeing trio.

I see people from CONCACAF and say to them, ‘If we were to react in this way, we’d all be kicked-out” and then Messi reappears and approaches me and says, ‘who the hell do you think you are’ with his fist raised and said all sorts”.

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Inter Miami reply

Inter Miami head coach Javier Morales refused to be drawn on the controversy stating that the most important aspect of the tie is “what happens on the pitch” going on to add: “the most important thing is what happened on the field of play, which was the first leg of a big cup match. We know what these matches represent, they are played with intensity and we faced a tough rival and unfortunately when we were down to 10 players we couldn’t keep the Game tied and now we have to go to Monterrey and try to do our best to advance,” explained Morales.

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Tata Martino’s assistant closed the discussion but did send a veiled message to Monterrey in which he assured that everyone has their own opinion and must take responsibility for what they say, referring to the statements made by Rayados coach Tano Ortíz.

“We know how things work in our sport, there are opinions of all kinds and everyone has to be responsible for what they say,” concluded Morales.