Lionel Messi will test his fitness at training on Friday ahead of a crucial game on Saturday against New York City FC, according to Inter Miami assistant coach Javier Morales.
Messi has missed three of Inter Miami’s past four games while battling what head coach Tata Martino has called “muscular fatigue” and “old scar tissue.”
The latest match Messi was forced to sit out was Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup final, which Inter Miami lost 2-1 to the Houston Dynamo at home.
Martino insisted after the game that Messi would not be lost for the rest of the season, with five games remaining in Miami’s regular-season campaign.
The club’s attention will now turn toward an increasingly difficult push for a playoff berth. Any realistic hope of making the postseason will start with a win over NYCFC, which currently occupies the ninth and final playoff position in the Eastern Conference.
Speaking to the media ahead of Saturday’s game, Morales said that Messi was still holding out hope he could play a part at DRV PNK Stadium on Saturday.
“We are taking it day-by-day,” he said. “We were trying up until the last moment for the final but he couldn’t make it. It’s communication with the medical staff and with him to see how he’s feeling. Now he is going to train and test it out.”
As for Jordi Alba, though, the news was less encouraging.
“Jordi is different, it’s a little longer than Leo,” Morales said. “It’s a hamstring injury and he’ll be out for this weekend.”
Like Messi, Alba’s most recent appearance came in last week’s game against Toronto FC, in which both former Barcelona stars were removed before halftime due to injury.
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