In the round of 16 match of the North American Leagues Cup this morning, Inter Miami lost 2-3 to Columbus Crew, missing out on a place in the quarterfinals. After the game, former Barcelona and Spain star Sergio Busquets pointed out that if Messi had been available, this would not have happened.
After the game, a disappointed Busquets told the press: “We all know the difference Leo brings, and we wish we had him with us. But football is like that: injuries, setbacks… For us, Messi is very important, and it’s a shame that he couldn’t help the team because (if he could have played), everything would have been different, and we would have had more possibilities”.
Messi has been out with an ankle injury since the Copa America final and has not yet recovered. From a technical standpoint, Busquets analyzed the impact of Messi’s absence: “We played very well in the first half and got a positive result. However, from that point onwards, they brought on more attacking players, we knew they would step up their attack and try to score, and we should have had our own options, especially on the counterattack. The result was decided because they were sharper in front of goal, we had some shortcomings, we didn’t do well with the final pass, the final shot, even though we wanted to advance, we fought until the end”.
Busquets’ implication is that Inter Miami’s problem was not a lack of attitude or fighting spirit, but rather a lack of effectiveness in the final third, a problem that Messi’s presence would have solved.
Busquets said that despite the Leagues Cup elimination, the team still has confidence and hopes to win the league championship: “We have to work together to be a solid team, hopefully we can achieve that goal, we are fighting in the league. We are in a very good position, we hope to stay there until the end of the season, to be in first place, to go into the playoffs in a very good way. We also hope that Leo (Messi) will recover soon, I don’t know when he will be back, hopefully soon.”
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