Fate did not want there to be
The Last Dance
between
Lionel Messi
and
Cristiano Ronaldo
.
And that
“last dance”
, as the friendly at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh between
Inter Miami
and
Al Nassr
was promoted , ended up being
a huge dance
by the Arab team that beat the Americans 6-0 with the Portuguese smiling from a box since he is recovering from an injury and with Leo entering from the bench to play the final minutes.
What happened to the man from Rosario who was not a starter?
Moments after the start of the match it was confirmed that the Argentine world champion was also not in a position to face the
Riyadh Season
match in Saudi Arabia.
Injury, rest or load management?
Apparently, a bit of all the options: the captain of the Argentine National Team entered the field with seven minutes remaining for the Ecuadorian Leonardo Campana and with the score already 0-6 down!
There was nothing he could do to change the plate.
It was beaten by the Arabs.
What happened before the friendly at the Kingdom Arena was strange.
There was a first publication from the official Inter Miami account in which Messi was not even on the substitute bench.
And that surprised everyone.
Minutes later, that flyer was modified and the Rosario surname - replaced in ownership by the Ecuadorian Campana - was placed in last place.
The specific thing is that Messi did not appear in the starting eleven.
Until this Thursday, his minutes had been increasing in the first three games of preparation for the start of the MLS, on February 21, against Real Salt Lake, at the DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
Against the El Salvador National Team (0-0 draw) he played the first full half, against Dallas FC (1-0 loss) he did so for 65 minutes and against Al Hilal, last Monday where he scored his first goal of the season in the 3-4 fall, he had been on the field of play for 84 minutes.
He precisely came out in that last match at his express request and as he passed by Martino he whispered something in his ear.
The Argentine 10 felt something.
Without an official medical report from Inter since there is no injury per se, everything would be a
muscle ailment
.
Leo underwent medical evaluations and that is why they preferred to preserve him.
The strange thing was to see him enter a match completely settled to be present for 13 minutes
(seven of regulation time and six added), something that makes it very difficult not to link it to a mere compliance with the commercial agreement for said match.
Martino and Messi chat before the Argentine enters.
Photo: AFP
The audience, of course, exploded when he saw him enter.
He had already done it every time his face appeared on the big screen and when he went out to warm up in the second half.
And the “
Meeeessi, Meeeessi!”
, he thundered as he stepped onto the field.
At that point, everything was doomed.
A triplet by the Brazilian Talisca (one from a penalty), Otavio, Laporte and Maran were the authors of the goals for Al Nassr, who never took their foot off the accelerator in a duel that at times became very frictional.
The tour for Inter Miami, which still has not won in the preseason, still has two more stops in Asia: next Sunday against the Hong Kong National Team and on Wednesday the 7th in Japan against Vissel Kobe.
Will Leo return to ownership?