MIAMI: Lionel Messi is set to return to action with Inter Miami on Saturday after spending more than two months out with an ankle injury, Miami coach Gerardo Martino said on Friday.
“Yeah, he’s good,” Martino said before practice Friday. “He trained (Thursday), he is in the plans for the game. After training we will find the strategy for him, but he is available,” added the Argentine.
Eastern Conference-leading Inter Miami hosts the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.
Messi injured his right ankle during the Copa America final on July 14, when he helped Argentina beat Colombia.
He has since missed eight MLS games for his club and this month’s World Cup qualifiers for his country.
“To bring the best player in the world back to our team, which was already on a good run, we are all very happy with this situation,” Martino said.
Inter have already booked their place in the MLS Cup playoffs, although their success will depend on how they finish the regular season, which ends on October 19.
The playoffs begin next week and conclude with the MLS Cup on December 7.
Miami’s Finnish winger Robert Taylor agreed and said Messi’s return to training had given the team a boost.
“We’re already confident but it gives us even more confidence now that he’s back in training and hopefully he’ll be ready to play soon,” Taylor told the Miami Herald.
“He brings a lot of leadership. The way he’s competitive in practice is really amazing. He wants to win every little thing that we do in practice, whether it’s football, tennis, rondo, small face games, he just wants you to win everything so that everyone to try to match that level,” he said.
Taylor doesn’t expect to see any lasting effects from the injury on the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner.
“Of course, two months is a long time, for anyone, but he is the best player there is. So I don’t think we will see a very different Messi than we have seen in the past,” he added.
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