Injury Report: Lionel Messi Expected to return from Injury Ahead of MLS Play-offs

Inter Miami head coach, Gerardo “Tata” Martino hints that the return of Lionel Messi from the ankle issues is on the card before the start of the MLS Play-off round. He has been sidelined since sustaining severe ankle ligament injury during the Copa America 2024 final clash against Colombia on July 14 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida.

Recently, the 37-year-old was omitted from the upcoming Argentina World Cup qualifiers in September, further building up concerns over his injury status. The eight-time Ballon dor winner has missed a significant amount of club matches in this 2024-25 season, including the entire run of Leagues Cup fixture.

However, the Inter Miami manager has now dropped a crucial update on his recovery process and revealed that Messi is ‘feeling better every day’ and potentially return to action in the final stages of the MLS regular season in October, sooner than expected.

“There is no estimated date [for his return] because we’ll start seeing how he feels as he trains more on the pitch,” Martino told reporters, “He’s not far from that [training with the squad]. I wouldn’t try to tell you in how many days, but it’s not a situation that’s too far away.”

The heron boss added further, “but with injuries, there’s a physical part and a mental part. He has to overcome both of those, and I think he’s in that process. He’s feeling better every day. We can’t give you a timeframe because we don’t know and we’d be speculating about something we shouldn’t be doing, but he’s close.”

Meanwhile, the herons are doing pretty well in the league without their marquee player Lionel Messi. Currently, standing on the top of the Eastern Conference points table with 53 points in 25 rounds of games.