On Friday night, Lionel Messi is scheduled to make his first appearance in Major League Soccer with Inter Miami; however, the fans may have to wait up to an hour and a half to witness the Argentine great play.
Tata Martino, the head coach of Miami, said that Lionel Messi and the recently acquired Sergio Busquets are both prepared to play in games, but he has not yet made a decision about whether or not they would come off the bench against Cruz Azul in the League Cup opening for both sides.
“From what I have seen up to now they are going fit to play and it is likely that on Friday they can be there,” Martino told Argentina’s ESPN Futbol 12 on Wednesday. “From what I have seen up to now they are going fit to play and it is likely that on Friday they can be there.” “We will have to make that decision yet, whether that will be as starters or coming in at the half, but as far as I can tell, both Leo and Busi are capable of playing,” said the coach.
According to the website dedicated to the resale of tickets, Vivid Seats, the price of a ticket for the event ranges anywhere from $275 to 110,000.
On the same day that Messi was given an official welcome at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Miami signed Busquets, Messi’s longtime colleague at FC Barcelona. Busquets was Messi’s longtime teammate at FC Barcelona.
With a record of 5-14-3 and 12 points under the cutoff for the playoffs, Miami sits in last place in the Eastern Conference of the Major League Soccer (MLS). However, Martino said that the Herons would get the finest version of Messi.
“But someone I admire a lot told me that he is coming to MLS carrying an empty suitcase but without all of the pressure he had in Barcelona in 2010-11 or the pressure of the national team,” Martino remarked. “Now, I think I am going to find a very competitive version of him because he has the need to win wearing this shirt now, because he has not won here yet,” the narrator says. “Because he has not won here yet.”