Jordi Alba’s Inter Miami debut possibly nearing against Orlando

FORT LAUDERDALE — Inter Miami defender Sergii Kryvtsov was not shy when addressing the magnitude of Wednesday night’s Leagues Cup match versus Orlando City.

The Ukrainian center-back first compared it to the Klasychne derby, the major rivalry played in his home country between Dynamo Kyiv and his former club, Shakhtar Donetsk.

Then came the big one, tying it back to Inter Miami’s former FC Barcelona players and his new teammates. He said he views the Inter Miami-Orlando City matchups just as highly as El Clásico, the ultra competitive FC Barcelona-Real Madrid matchups.

“For me, it’s the same,” Kryvtsov said.

While Kryvtsov has never played in El Clásico, three of his star teammates have — Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba — plus, Inter Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino coached in it.

El Clásico dates all the way back to 1902, while the Miami-Orlando in-state rivalry — also known as the “Florida Derby” — is just a few years old. It’s European soccer versus American soccer. It’s a bit different.

Messi, Busquets, Alba and Martino will get their first tastes of the Florida rivalry very soon. But Martino quickly splashed some cold water on Kryvtsov’s take, suggesting it was a reference to Inter Miami’s preparation heading into the match.

“Maybe Sergii wanted to put in context the game,” Martino said through an interpreter. “Obviously both classicals have a little bit of distance in terms of comparing both. What’s true is that it’s very difficult to predict what’s going to happen tomorrow.

“We know that Barca-Madrid has been played for many years, but I’m sure that Sergii was referring to the mindset in how we’re approaching this game.”