Lionel Messi started Inter Miami’s latest match against New York Red Bulls sitting out on the bench. Since then there have been speculations of a potential injury to the player. Now the fans want to know that if the 36-year-old Inter Miami Star plays against Los Angeles FC in their match on September 3.
Earlier, Messi suffered an injury scare before Inter Miami’s League Cup semi-final game against Philadelphia. The manager of Inter Miami – Gerardo Tata Martino came out with the news that Lionel Messi had an injury scare during their pre-semi-final training. Messi accidentally tweaked his right ankle. However, Lionel went on to play the semi-final game against Philadelphia.
The moment Lionel Messi suffered an injury scare in Inter Miami’s latest training session 😨 pic.twitter.com/7PCd8YHXXl
— GOAL (@goal) August 15, 2023
The extent of the injury is not serious as of now, but if not taken care of, it could be aggravated. The former Barcelona player has played most of the minutes in Inter Miami’s games since he joined the club.
Messi starting on the bench against the New York Red Bulls could just be a precautionary move from the club and the coach. The injury scare that Messi faced might have triggered the club’s hierarchy to manage the player’s workload better.
Besides this injury scare, the Argentinian midfielder will probably not take part in three of Inter Miami’s League matches in September due to being called up for national duty. The player will take part in the World Cup qualifiers. This news might be hard to digest for Miami’s fans, as the player has notched up 11 goals and three assists in a total of nine appearances for the Major League Soccer (MLS) club so far.
Lionel Messi’s previous injury history
The injuries are part and parcel of the game and even a player like Lionel Messi can’t escape them. Messi’s injury track record has seen a lot of ups and downs over the years. The player caught a knee problem in the 2021-2022 season and was out for 13 days. Messi missed three games for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) due to the injury.
In the same season of 2021-2022, the Argentinian also quarantined himself and missed 4 games for PSG. Messi was out for a total of 28 days. Lionel had calf problems in the season’s 2022-2023 October period. The player was out for eight days and missed three games.
Lionel Messi suffered an Achilles tendon problem in the November period of the 2022-2023 season. Although it kept him out for a short period of two days only. The tendon problem made Messi miss an important game for PSG. Messi was in full flow in the earlier part of the year 2023 before his knee problems struck back in the February period and kept him out for almost a week and 2 games.