Inter Miami has gotten a taste of how disastrous a match could be without Lionel Messi. The Argentine wizard missed his first game of the season for the Miami-based side and it wasn’t a coincidence that the match resulted in Inter Miami’s first defeat this season. Tonight, the Herons face a do-or-die encounter against Nashville SC in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

The aggregate score right now is 2-2. Undefeated this season, Nashville has momentum on their side. However, one man who can turn the odds around is Lionel Messi. Barring any last-minute development, Lionel Messi will line up for the Herons tonight. In a recent training update, the 8-time Ballon d’Or winner was spotted walking out to the training field alongside the rest of the team. Moreover, considering it is a knockout tournament, it doesn’t make sense for the technical staff to rest their captain and talisman in a must-win game.

Furthermore, while Messi was absent against CF Montreal, the reason was also about giving him a rest per assistant manager Javier Morales. He had said, “Luis Suarez, Messi, and all the players who were playing a lot of minutes, we will start rotating them so they can continue playing.” Hence, the injury to the Inter Miami ace wasn’t as severe as initially thought.

In the 75th minute of the first leg against Nashville SC, Lionel Messi was trying to pressure the opposition defender Lukas MacNaughton. In his attempt to clear the ball, the defender stepped on Messi’s shin and caused his left ankle to twist. However, head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino mentioned in a conference that the team and Messi had previously agreed that he would rest against Montreal — no matter what happened at Nashville.

Martino has been tasked with finding ways to manage Messi’s workload and recovery as he has played every minute of Inter Miami’s first four games of the season. On Sunday’s match, Messi was spotted wearing street clothes and watching from a sideline box as Montreal took advantage of several Inter Miami defensive miscues to hand his team its first loss of the season — a 3-2 defeat.

The first three meetings between Nashville SC and Inter Miami have all been deadlocked after 90 minutes. Fans will wait to see if the fourth meeting will be any different. Meanwhile, let’s look at other players who are affected by injuries.

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The Inter Miami players unavailable for tonight’s CONCACAF Champions Cup encounter

For tonight’s match, Inter Miami has five confirmed absentees. First on the list is midfielder Benjamin Cremaschi. The homegrown talent is out due to a sports hernia and has been unavailable since late January. The defensive duo of Ian Fray and Franco Negri will also be unavailable as they are recovering from their anterior cruciate ligament injuries. Hence, they won’t be returning anytime soon.

Likewise, new signing and attacking midfielder Facundo Farias is also out due to an ACL injury. Lastly, attacker Robbie Robbinson is also unavailable since he is under medical evaluation.

The game will be played at the Chase Stadium, Miami on Wednesday, March 13, 20:15 hrs ET/ 17:15 hrs PST. Fans can watch the game with English commentary on Fox Sports 2 and Spanish on TUDN. Who will emerge victorious tonight? Give your predictions below.

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