Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano said he recognized the importance of reaching the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals as a young club, but warned against taking the quarterfinal series against LAFC for granted.
Miami, which began life in MLS in 2020, is in its second season in North America’s top club competition, after falling 5-2 on aggregate over two legs to Liga MX side CF Monterrey in last year’s quarterfinals.
“I don’t know if it’s the biggest [game so far in our season] or not because in the end one, for me all the matches are important and I say the same thing: the most important is the next one,” Mascherano told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday.
“We don’t look beyond the next match but it’s clear that we know we are in an important point of the competition. If we manage to reach this stage we would be among the four best of Concacaf. For a club like Inter Miami that has had little time of existence, I think it would be a big step.”
Inter Miami defeated Sporting Kansas City and Cavalier FC to reach the quarterfinals and a matchup against LAFC. Now, the team will be looking to play the first leg against the MLS Western Conference giant at Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium on Wednesday with Lionel Messi on the roster.
Though Mascherano failed to disclose how involved Messi would be in the match, he revealed the player is fit after featuring for over 35 minutes against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday. The forward had previously missed two World Cup qualifiers with an adductor issue.
“I expect that Leo will be fit for tomorrow and he can play but at the end you will know at the beginning of the game,” said Mascherano.
“The most important thing is that he finished the match against Philadelphia well. The reality is that we returned to training yesterday. We gave them a rest on Sunday, so today we’ll see how they feel.”
Inter Miami will host LAFC just seven days later in the second leg at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
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