Tata Martino reacts to claims of Messi saving himself for Copa America

Inter Miami manager Tata Martino has shut down suggestions that Lionel Messi is saving himself for the Copa America and not giving his all for the MLS club.

Tata Martino’s Inter Miami side suffered a surprising 3-1 defeat to Atlanta United on home soil with Messi scoring the only goal.

Despite scoring his 11th goal of the 2024 campaign, Messi was not at his best and this has led to wide criticism.

Martino afterwards was asked that the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner may have at least one eye on the defence of a continental crown with his country – which gets underway on June 20.

The Inter Miami boss reacted to those questions by saying: “No, I will not speculate if Messi is saving himself for Copa America because [that question has] no validity.”

While reluctant to de dragged into a debate regarding Messi’s priorities, Martino concedes that the Herons were a long way short of the required standard against Atlanta.

He added: “There are no positives to take from this game. We were missing a step against Atlanta, we took a step backward from how we had been playing, and that was totally unexpected. I saw no signs of fatigue in training on Monday or Tuesday. I don’t have to do a deep analysis of what went wrong because everything went wrong.”