Is Messi playing tonight? Lionel Messi suffers foot injury scare in training

Lionel Messi has made an explosive start to life with Inter Miami, but the Argentine World Cup winner sparked concern after appearing to pick up an injury on Monday.

Just one day before Miami face the Philadelphia Union in the semi-final of the Leagues Cup, their biggest game of the season so far, Messi was seen moving gingerly after tweaking his right ankle in training.

The 36-year-old has scored eight times in five Leagues Cup fixtures since making the move to Miami. If he were to miss tonight’s game, the Union would be confident of making it to the final.

Will Lionel Messi play against the Philadelphia Union?

Messi’s unique talents make him irreplaceable, not only within the Inter Miami roster but across world football. Images of him stumbling over on his right ankle in training will have caused real concern for Inter Miami.

However head coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino downplayed suggestions that Messi could miss out of the crucial clash.

“I was only at a part of the session because I had a meeting afterwards and was finishing preparing, so I didn’t see exactly what happened,” Martino told reporters on Monday. “But if it was something serious, I’m sure everyone would have been shocked.”

He continued: “Since everyone was fine, I imagine nothing happened.”

As it stands Messi looks set to play from the start against the Union and his team will be relying on him for another match-winning performance. However the concern over the Argentine’s mini-injury scare only highlights his importance to this resurgent Miami team.