Lionel Messi: Inter Miami star set to miss Atlanta game as Argentina captain stays at home and tucks into pizza amid injury fears
- Messi was left out of the Argentina team this week due to a mysterious fitness problem
- Now, the Miami star has all but confirmed he won’t be a factor against Atlanta
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Lionel Messi will miss an Inter Miami match for the first time since arriving in the United States after appearing to confirm he will not travel to Atlanta this weekend.
Messi, who has scored 11 goals in as many games for Miami over the past two months, was left out of the Argentina team to face Bolivia on Tuesday with a mysterious fitness problem.
Just days after being seen leaving a medical center in his home country, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni revealed that the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner ‘didn’t feel comfortable’ playing in their World Cup qualifier, leaving the fears arose that he would not be able to do so. will be unavailable upon his return to Miami this week.
And despite having trained with the team on Friday, later that evening Messi shared a video of himself on Instagram opening a pizza box from Banchero Miami – an Argentinian pizza restaurant located on the city’s famous beach – virtually confirming that he did not go to Atlanta has traveled for Inter’s latest MLS match.
Earlier in the day, Inter’s official Instagram account had uploaded photos of the likes of Sergio Busquets, Josef Martinez and DeAndre Yedlin boarding a plane to Atlanta.
Lionel Messi will miss an Inter Miami match for the first time since arriving in the United States
Messi shared an Instagram story showing he stayed in Miami this weekend
Tata Martino therefore seems likely to be without his star man when Inter resumes league play on Saturday evening.
Messi was substituted late in Argentina’s 1-0 win over Ecuador last Thursday after scoring the only goal of the match.
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said after the match that he had ‘felt something’, while the match winner himself said he was ‘a bit tired’.
However, on Tuesday he did not even make the bench for the second round of the World Cup qualifiers.
After returning to the United States this week, Messi hoped he would be fit in time for the game against Atlanta as he trained with his teammates on Friday.
But with the US Open Cup final just under a fortnight away, Martino could well maintain his captain’s fitness as he prepares.