Is Lionel Messi Playing Tonight For Inter Miami Vs New England Revolution?

Injuries and physical fatigue have marred Lionel Messi‘s Inter Miami run, towards the end of last season. This season has yet again seen Messi sitting out during crucial Miami games to recover from physical woes. Therefore, citing Messi as injury-prone, analysts and fans often wonder if he would start for the Herons in any given game. Notably, Miami plays the New England Revolution on the road tomorrow in the Gillette Stadium before a sell-out crowd. But fans still wonder if the mammoth crowd would get a glimpse of the Argentine.

Adding fuel to fans’ doubts and Lionel Messi’s injury risks, the Gillette Stadium in New England features an artificial turf surface. MLS stars, including David Beckham, during his time, and NFL stars have picked up injuries while playing on turfs. So, will Tata Martino risk Messi in such hostile conditions? Let’s find out.

Martino’s latest update on Lionel Messi’s availability against New England

The 60,000+ crowd that will gather at the Gillette Stadium can let out a sigh of relief. Speaking to the press before Saturday’s game, Tata Martino quashed the concerns of playing Lionel Messi on artificial turf. “Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez have no issues with playing on the synthetic field,” said Martino. He added,  “We previously played on artificial turf at Charlotte last year and had no problem.” Continuing, the Argentine boss said he would only later announce the formation and lineup for the New England game. So fans now only need to wait to find out where Martino would deploy Leo Messi.

Speaking of Inter Miami’s last game on artificial turf, Lionel Messi had started against Charlotte and played the whole 90 minutes that night. Besides, the Argentine quashed the supposed discomforts around turf surfaces last year when he came to Inter Miami. He said he spent much of his youth career on artificial turfs. He added he can adapt to playing on the dangerous surface again. Anyhow, a feature on turf is risky at this point for the Argentine as renowned athletes have ended in the red lately after playing on artificial surfaces.

Beckham’s rant on turfs and Aaron Rodgers’ injury highlight the risks of turfs

The streets won’t forget the moment the Jets QB Aaron Rodgers went down on the field after tearing his Achilles tendon in 2023. Studies showed that the tendon is that part of the body prone to injuries from playing on artificial surfaces. After Rodgers’ season-ending injury, the NFL Players Association had urged the league to switch to natural grass from turf. However, the world’s biggest league is yet to make that move.

Meanwhile, David Beckham was quick to call out the MLS for using turf surfaces when he first joined the LA Galaxy in 2007. “As a professional athlete, you can’t play a game like soccer on that sort of field. What it does to your body as a soccer player, you’re in bits for three days after that,” said David Beckham back then. Anyhow, Martino has overlooked all this. Only time will tell if a recently recovered Messi remains healthy after the New England game without his hamstring woes troubling him again.