Lionel Messi and Inter Miami suitably kick off a demanding preseason schedule on Friday when they travel abroad to play the El Salvador national team in a friendly, setting up an exhausting 2024 campaign.
Before playing their first competitive game of the upcoming season on February 21, Inter Miami will embark on a three-week preseason tour that will see them travel 23,000 miles and include stops in Dallas, Texas, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Japan, and the Caribbean.
Head coach Tata Martino has had a full offseason to consider how best to manage the workload of a squad full of aging stars headlined by 36-year-old Messi, who’s joined by Sergio Busquets (35), Jordi Alba (34), and new signing Luis Suarez (36). It will remain a talking point all season, especially after Inter Miami fell short of the playoffs last year in part thanks to an injury to Messi that ignited the conversation about season-long congestion.
