Inter Miami
, with Lionel Messi and the rest of its figures, takes on this Monday afternoon the first friendly of its tour of Saudi Arabia against
Al-Hilal
, the most successful Asian club, at the Kingdom Arena in the city of Riyadh.
The match in the capital of the Middle Eastern country takes place
from 3:00 p.m. in Argentina
and is broadcast on the AppleTV platform for Major League Soccer (MLS) membership subscribers.
Las Garzas, led by Argentine Gerardo Martino, play the first of their four games scheduled for the Asian continent prior to the start of the official MLS season, which will take place on February 21 against Real Salt Lake in Miami.
After his first friendlies against El Salvador and Dallas FC,
Messi, along with Luis Suárez as his attacking partner
, try to score his first goal of the year and win the first victory of the season for his team.
Despite facing the leader of the Saudi league,
Al-Hilal does not have its top figure, none other than Neymar
, who is still undergoing his recovery process due to the tear of the anterior cruciate ligament and the meniscus in his left knee that He suffered last October in a match with his National Team.
The eastern team is led by the Portuguese
Jorge Jesús
, winner of the 2019 Copa Libertadores with
Flamengo
from Brazil.
For this afternoon, his squad also does not have the availability of other figures such as the Moroccan goalkeeper
Bono
and the Senegalese central marker
Kalidou Koulibaly
, who were called up by their national teams to compete in the African Cup of Nations.
In front of them stands an
Inter Miami that seeks its best version with the old Barcelona poker
that in addition to Messi and the Uruguayan Luis Suárez, is also made up of the Spaniards
Jordi Alba
and
Sergio Busquets
.
The Florida franchise also has Argentine defenders
Tomás Avilés
and
Nicolás Freire
on the roster , one of its recent additions.
On the other hand, Facundo Farías
, victim of a serious knee injury in the preseason, nor
Benjamín Cremaschi
, who recently underwent surgery for a hernia,
did not travel directly to the tour of Asia .
Three days after the friendly with Al-Hilal, Inter Miami will close its stay in Saudi Arabia with Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nasrr, whose presence was suspended due to an injury that forced the Asian club to postpone two matches in China.
Once the Saudi tour is over, Inter will travel to Hong Kong to face a local team on February 4 and Japan to play three days later against Vissel Kobe.
On February 15, Messi will experience an emotional close to the preseason in a friendly in Miami against Newell's Old Boys from Rosario.
With information from Agencies.