‘We don’t care about Lionel Messi!’ – How Atlanta United ignored Inter Miami circus despite ‘everything’ being about absent Argentine superstar

The Florida-based outfit headed out on the road for their latest MLS fixture, but did not have seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi within their ranks after seeing him return to the United States from World Cup qualifying duty with Argentina. The all-time great still made plenty of headlines in his absence, but Atlanta were able to upset the form book and inflict a 5-2 defeat on Inter Miami.

Portuguese winger Silva, who completed a loan move to America in August, told reporters of the defiant message that had been sounded by the Atlanta squad before a ball was kicked: “We don’t care about Messi. We care about us. We want to be in the play-offs.”

Atalanta boss Gonzalo Pineda was also eager to point out that his team had done everything in their power to turn attention away from Messi - regardless of whether he figured in Inter Miami’s plans or not. He said: “A lot of things that are going out there in the atmosphere and everything seems to be about Inter Miami, about Messi, about all that. And I told them we have to turn that down to ‘it’s about us, it’s about Atlanta United’.”

Atlanta have cemented their standing inside the MLS Eastern Conference play-off places, as they sit sixth, but Inter Miami remain second-from-bottom and have a seven-point gap to bridge through just six games in order to make the post-season.