What has Tata Martino said about the Inter Miami - Monterrey controversy?

It may only be April but Inter Miami’s 2024 season has already reached a crossroads. On Wednesday night they take on Liga MX giants Monterrey in the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions Cup clash. Miami must overturn a 2-1 first leg loss to progress. If not, their hopes of a CONCACAF triumph will be dashed.

The tension is raised further by the contentious nature of the first leg at Chase Stadium, where a side-lined Lionel Messi still found himself at the centre of the action. The Herons’ captain was unavailable due to injury but reportedly questioned match officials in the tunnel after the game and confronted members of the Monterrey backroom staff.

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Ahead of the return Game in Mexico, Inter Miami head coach Tata Martino said that the controversy had been exaggerated. He insisted that Wednesday’s Game would be exactly that, a Game of soccer.

“Where I come from, if you play two game the first one is the first one and the second one is a rematch. It’s not interesting, I don’t want to create anything,” Martino told reporters after Saturday’s draw with Colorado Rapids.

“We’re going to play a Game where we win, we will continue forward, and if we lose, we go home. We’re not thinking about anything else. Everything that has to do with drama is not my idea. There’s no drama here.”

Will Lionel Messi play for Inter Miami against Monterrey?

Messi had been absent for four Games ahead of the Colorado match, a spell that had resulted in just a single win for Inter Miami. He made his comeback at halftime on Saturday and scored within minutes of his return, firing effortlessly past Zac Steffen from the edge of the penalty box.

His importance to this Inter Miami team cannot be overstated and his availability for the Monterrey Game could be the defining factor in the tie. Messi’s fitness was, inevitably, a key topic of the post-match press conference on Saturday and Martino gave a positive assessment of the Argentine’s situation.

“We knew it was a risk for him to play the first game against Monterrey, it was planned. If nothing unexpected happened we planned for him to play some minutes [against Colorado], 30 to 45 minutes. He felt fine and this will help him to arrive with confidence, especially with regards to the injury, for the second game against Monterrey.”

“The most important thing is that he came back, felt good, and scored a goal. He participated in the second half; it was the most significant portion.”

Martino has made no secret of his desire to focus on the CONCACAF Champions Cup in the early months of the season and all indications suggest that all four ex-Barcelona players will start on Wednesday. Inter Miami’s aging superstars cannot be relied upon for the week-in, week-out grind of the MLS regular season but in these high-profile continental matches the likes of Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez, as we saw in the victory over Nashville, can prove decisive.