On Friday, Inter Miami practiced as if Sergio Busquets would not play in the team’s win-or-lose playoff game against Atlanta United.
A few hours later, the team received a surprise.
Busquets, who was previously ruled out for Saturday’s game by coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino, obtained medical clearance to play on Friday afternoon and is now categorized as questionable. Busquets went through a training session on his alone after the rest of the club worked out on Friday, implying that Lionel Messi could have one of his most trusted friends by his side with the season at stake.
“We’re confident in the progression of his recovery, and are hopeful he’ll be available for (Saturday’s) match,” said the team’s spokesperson.
Busquets was struck in the midsection during Game 1 of the best-of-three series and had pneumonia-like symptoms. He did not play in Game 2 last week, which Atlanta won 2-1, and Inter Miami needs to win Saturday to extend its season and advance to the second round of the MLS Cup playoffs.
“At best, there are four finals left,” Martino stated Friday morning, during the same interview in which he divulged that Busquets would not play — because it was his true belief at the time. “Each of the remaining games has the characteristics of a final game and we, with the expectations we have, are ready to face it in the best way.”
Inter Miami aims to have four games remaining this season: Saturday’s Round 1 finale, followed by a conference semifinal, conference final, and MLS Cup final. If Inter Miami keeps winning, all four of those games will be at home. If it loses, the season is over for the team that won the Supporters’ Shield and has the best regular-season record in MLS history.
Atlanta has already won four elimination games this season, including two must-win games to keep hope alive at the end of the regular season against the New York Red Bulls and Orlando City, followed by a wild-card match in Montreal and Game 2 of this series against Inter Miami.
The only distinction is that this is also Messi’s elimination match. And when challenged this week about Messi’s poor performance in this series — no goals and one assist in two games — Atlanta interim coach Rob Valentino refused to play along.
“Messi is fantastic,” Valentino stated. “There is no slander from my end. He is a superb player. I don’t care if people think he’s produced or not; he’s wonderful.”
Atlanta is the only MLS team to defeat Inter Miami twice this season, and both victories came with Messi on the roster; the club is 2-1-1 this season against the No. 1 overall seed.
When Messi was in the lineup, the rest of the MLS went 0-12-5 against Inter Miami. However, Atlanta’s strategy against Messi appears to have succeeded; he has one goal on 19 shots, eight of which were on target, in the four meetings between the clubs this season.
“What he brings to a game, what he brings to a team, just him standing on the field requires your attention,” Atlanta United goaltender Brad Guzan said. “There are extremely few situations when Plan A works. It’s Plan B, Plan C, and Plan D, and you need to change rapidly.”
The team stated that Busquets will be labeled as questionable, which normally means that the club’s medical staff will assess his condition on game day before making a final decision.
