Inter Miami Boss Reveals Plans For Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba
Inter Miami head coach Gerardo "Tata" Martino revealed in a news conference on Friday that Lionel Messi is expected to stay in the starting lineup leading up to this summer's Copa America, but Jordi Alba is absent for the short-term with a muscle injury.
Messi has battled through injuries so far this season and there have been question marks over how many minutes he can play at club level ahead of Argentina's Copa America campaign.
But Martino, who used to manage the Argentine national side himself, has revealed Inter Miami do not have any 'special' plan to rest him.
"There's nothing special right now with Messi," Martino told reporters. "We will be playing games on the weekends for the next few weeks, we just have one midweek game against Orlando City.
"We will evaluate those moments once the schedule begins to compress, but I don't think we need to analyze a special plan [for Messi] because he feels good. He's working well on a day-to-day basis, and at the pace we are going we will remain in the same way."
When asked if there's likely to be a lot of rotation in the aftermath of Inter Miami's Concacaf Champions Cup elimination, Martino replied: "No. When the team plays one competition, like we will starting this week, and have games every six to seven days, there is no motivation to rotate unless we are running a risk or there's a specific situation. If there are no specific situations, then we at this moment do not have plans for rotation."
While Messi is fit and ready to go again, the same can't be said of Alba, who will miss at least two games through injury.
"Jordi suffered a muscle injury, he will miss this upcoming match and the next one. After that, we will begin evaluating on a game-by-game basis," Martino added.
