Lionel Messi has been left out of Inter Miami’s squad for their Champions Cup showdown with Monterrey tonight after failing to recover from injury in time.
Miami is set to face the Mexican club in the first leg of their last-eight battle at DRV PNK Stadium, where head coach Tata Martino will not be able to turn to his star man this evening.
Despite returning to practice on Tuesday, Messi is not included on the 19-man roster for Wednesday’s first leg, with Martino deciding that the risk of throwing him back in too soon is greater than the potential reward.
The 36-year-old has not featured for Miami since mid-March, when he limped out of the team’s Round of 16 victory over Nashville SC.
In his absence, Robert Taylor and Julian Gressell will flank Luis Suarez in attack once again as Martino makes no changes to his frontline from the weekend’s 1-1 draw at New York City.
Lionel Messi is out of Inter Miami’s Champions Cup quarterfinal against Monterrey tonight
Messi raised hope of a potential return when he was seen in practice on Tuesday morning
The 36-year-old has not featured for Miami since limping out of last month’s win over Nashville
Diego Gomez, David Ruiz and Sergio Busquets make up a three-man midfield, with Jordi Alba, Nicolas Freire, Tomas Aviles and Marcelo Weigandt in defense.
Messi has missed three games for Miami since sustaining the hamstring problem last month, with his team taking just four points out of nine in that time.
After a 3-1 win on the road at D.C. United, Inter were thrashed 4-0 by the New York Red Bulls, before they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to NYCFC on Saturday.
Messi had only played the first three matches of the MLS season before picking up his injury against Nashville.
That followed on from a lengthy preseason tour full of controversy over his lack of minutes played.
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