Messi, Inter Miami aim to widen gap atop table with home win Saturday vs. Charlotte FC

Lionel Messi is still adjusting to being back on the field with Inter Miami after a two-month injury layoff, but he has two goals and two assists in his first three games back, and coach Tata Martino believes the Argentine star will return to peak form in time for the playoffs.

“Leo is going to get better and better with each 90 minutes,” Martino said.

“Obviously, Leo does not need to do separate work in training, but he needs a rhythm of competition, and if he continues to play 90 minutes, I feel he will get to the playoffs in very good shape because in addition to the games with us he has the games with the Argentinian national team [October 10 vs. Venezuela, Oct. 15 vs. Bolivia]. So, we have high hopes that he will come into the playoffs in very good form.”

Martino has been known to rotate players when the team has three games in a week, but he indicated Friday that he will use his strongest lineup for upcoming games because so much is at stake.

If Miami wins Saturday at home against Charlotte FC and on the road Wednesday against defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew, it will clinch the Supporters’ Shield awarded to the team with the best regular-season record. That would assure Miami home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

With 64 points and four games remaining, Miami is also in position to break the all-time MLS points record (73), which New England Revolution set in 2021.

Fans can expect Messi to start Saturday.

“Saturday is a key game for us, we return home, we have to try to get a win [after two ties on the road] to at least maintain the advantage we have over Columbus and Cincinnati in the standings,” Martino said.

“Obviously, we are in a critical, decisive stage to finish the season in first place, and we’ll see how the games go, but we want to reach our objectives. After these three games is the FIFA break, so we want to prioritize these next three games; of course, without risking injuries.”

Midfielders Matias Rojas (ankle) and Diego Gomez (hamstring) returned to training last week and will be available for the game Saturday. Defender Noah Allen and midfielder Fede Redondo are out, serving suspensions for yellow card accumulation.

It has been a foregone conclusion for the latter half of this season that Inter Miami will be in contention to claim the Supporters’ Shield, win MLS Cup and break the record for most points in a season.

And why not? Miami boasts the league’s most expensive roster, led by former FC Barcelona stars Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Luis Suarez (who is sporting a new bleached blond look this week). Inter Miami has been atop the standings all year, has 68 goals, more than any team in the league, and its plus-24 goal differential is second only to the Crew.

Messi has 14 goals and 15 assists in 15 games. Suarez has 17 goals and six assists in 23 games.

Miami settled for a pair of draws on the road at Atlanta United and NYCFC, making the points record a bit harder to get, but still reachable.

Martino said he is not worried about last week’s hiccup. He stressed that every team has highs and lows. Miami has had to utilize many different lineups due to injuries and national team duty, and each time a player returns, there is an adjustment period, he said.

“When Luis [Suarez] or Diego [Gomez] or Leo [Messi] come back from an absence, it’s like we’re practically starting over,” he said. “When we were missing players during Copa America and then with Messi’s injury, that was one team. When everyone got healthy and was back, that is a different team. That is what we are getting accustomed to.

“Is that good to be going through at the end of a season? No. But that’s where we are. I wouldn’t say we had a bad stretch the past three games, but rather an inconsistent stretch.”

Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender, who became a father two weeks ago with the birth of his daughter, said the team is blocking out pressure from outside.

“The quality we have, we feel we can win every game, can win trophies, but we take it game by game and the pressure lessens,” Callender said. “We can focus on what the world is saying or we can keep it within in the locker room and if we commit and believe in each other, we’ll be ok.”

Charlotte has won just once in the past five matches, a 4-0 victory over the New England Revolution last weekend. The Crown is in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, tied with NYCFC, and could clinch a playoff spot with a win over Miami and help from other teams.

Asked how he will plan to stop Messi, Charlotte coach Dean Smith said: “A lot of people before me have tried, but we can’t just concentrate on just one man. He’s a game changer, but they have other players who can score, as well.

“There’ll be no fear for us going to Miami. We respect who they are, what they’re doing, their points total they’ve gathered so far. But we know how close the game was [in July] at the Bank of America [Stadium], and we should have taken something out of that game, was disappointed that we didn’t. So, we’ll be going there with no fears but full of respect.”

Messi and Suarez were away at Copa America when the teams last played July 3. Miami won 2-1 on an 86^th minute goal by Benja Cremaschi.

Inter Miami II vs. Crown Legacy FC

The success of the first team has inspired Inter Miami’s reserve team. With a win or tie in Sunday’s 3 p.m. home match against Crown Legacy FC, Inter Miami II would clinch an MLS Next playoff spot for the first time in club history.

“Having the four guys that are here [Messi, Suarez, Busquets, Alba] is an inspiration to all of us, it’s a huge factor in our success and bleeds down all the way to the academy,” said Inter Miami II captain Nyk Sessock.

Coach Federico Higuain agreed.

“Surely, there was a before and after for our team with the arrival of those players and Tata Martino and his staff,” Higuain said. “Having them around stimulates any young player who aspires to play professionally.”

Higuain also revealed that the club is working on finding a role for his brother, Gonzalo, the former Argentine star forward who retired two years ago and is Miami’s all-time second-leading scorer.