Inter Miami team news: Will Lionel Messi play against Nashville?

It’s just three weeks since Inter Miami played their first competitive fixture of 2024, yet already the Herons are facing down a must-win game in their pursuit of pan-continental silverware.

On Wednesday Tata Martino’s side take on Nashville in the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions Cup fixture. Miami fought back from two goals down to end the first leg 2-2, meaning that it’s all to play for on their return to Chase Stadium.

Miami suffered their first defeat of the season last Sunday, a disappointing performance culminating in a 3-2 loss to CF Montreal. The only cause for optimism after last weekend’s game was the thought that, after being rested against Montreal, Lionel Messi should be fresh to take on Nashville. Messi was not in the Miami squad that faced Montreal but Martino has confirmed that his absence was purely to allow him time to recuperate.

“We discussed this about a week ago. We agreed that this was the game he should rest, independent of what happened in the game against Nashville,” the Inter Miami boss said post-game. “[The media] asked 10 days ago if I planned to rotate; we rotated.”

Will Martino start Campana or Suarez?

So, with Messi’s presence in the Inter Miami starting XI all-but confirmed Herons supporters can rest easily ahead of the Nashville game. But for Martino and his coaching staff there are a number of other major calls to be made.

Namely, does Luis Suarez return to the team or should Leonardo Campana be given another chance after his goal-scoring performance on Sunday. Suarez undoubtedly has the edge over Campana in terms of quality but he lacks the physical talents that he once possessed.

With Messi and Suarez in the frontline the Herons can be overly predictable, lacking both pace in behind and a physical target man to play the ball up to. Campana can at least offer the latter, but after Suarez’s last-minute winner in the first leg we expect him to regain his starting berth on Wednesday.

Martino could choose to balance out those aging superstars by adding Robert Taylor to the front line. The 29-year-old Finn found his best form with Miami after Messi joined the team last summer and he brings the energy and direct running that Messi and Suarez can no longer offer.

What formation will Inter Miami play?

Aside from long-term injuries to the likes of Benjamin Cremaschi, Ian Fray and Facundo Farias, Inter Miami have no major absences due to injury. Martino will be able to name close to a full-strength team but the Herons’ squad is far from extensive.

In last weekend’s game Martino went for an untested midfield trio of Julian Gressel, Federico Redondo and Lawson Sunderland, all of whom are new to the team. Miami have not yet found a replacement for DeAndre Yedlin and young midfielder David Ruiz was forced to fill in as right wing-back against Montreal.

Without the specialist players required to play a 5-3-2 Martino may opt to return to a 4-3-3 against Nashville. Nicolas Freire is expected to return to the team and either Noah Allen or Tomas Aviles could be shifted out to play at right-back. Diego Gomez could also be drafted in to provide more energy in midfield, joining Busquets and Gressel in the middle. Ahead of them Suarez, Messi and Taylor provide a variety of abilities and prevent Miami becoming too predictable.

Inter Miami predicted team: Callender - Allen, Freire, Aviles, Alba - Busquets, Gressel, Gomez - Messi, Suarez, Taylor