Explained: How to stop Lionel Messi & Luis Suarez! Atlanta United plan gives hopes to MLS rivals that Inter Miami superstars can be contained

Completely shutting out a couple of superstar forwards is always going to be an almost impossible task, but the obvious threat that they pose can be reined in. Atlanta made a decent job of keeping Messi and Suarez under wraps at Chase Stadium.

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Eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi did hit the back of the net, but his 11th goal of the 2024 campaign proved to be little more than a consolation for the Herons – who saw their 10-match unbeaten run in MLS competition brought to a shuddering halt.

Pineda told reporters afterwards of how he set his side up to frustrate Messi and Suarez, while limiting their impact on proceedings: “I think understanding that Messi and Suarez were going to be on top, I wanted to have always a three vs two against them. The players did amazing in terms of those times. There were different difficult moments in the game where we didn’t read them or they were using balls in the build-up, but then we were always a good base of three players defending so that was also part of the why, because I wanted to be protected in the middle of the field in transition moments.”

With the rest of MLS being shown that Messi and Suarez can be kept relatively quiet, Inter Miami may have to start tinkering with their tactical approach. They do, however, have enough firepower at their disposal to suggest that any defensive lock can be picked when performing at their full potential.