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Why isn’t Lionel Messi starting for Inter Miami?

Miami fans will be delighted to see Messi back in the matchday squad but many will be asking why the team captain is starting on the bench. The 36-year-old has missed the past four games due to a reoccurrence of a muscular injury. 

Ahead of the game Inter Miami assistant coach Javi Morales explained that they would be taking his recovery carefully. 

“It’s more of the same, we have to evaluate him day by day,” Morales said on Friday. “The good news is he trained [Thursday], he will train [Friday], and afterwards we will make a decision. But he is doing better every day.”