‘Clearly Messi-dependent’ – Mascherano on Inter Miami’s redemption

Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano has laughed off suggestions that his team are too dependent on Lionel Messi, insisting they will bounce back stronger following a tough Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals elimination.

The Herons faced a difficult loss when falling 3-1 (5-1 on aggregate) to the Vancouver Whitecaps on Wednesday night in the second leg of the semifinal series as their CCL dream ended.

However, they have the chance to get the bad result off their mind when they host New York Red Bulls in MLS action on Saturday night.

Ahead of what is expected to be a thrilling game, Mascherano has now spoken about talks surrounding his team reliance on Messi.

“Teams have been dependent on Messi,” Mascherano said during a news conference on Friday. “[Pep] Guardiola’s Barcelona was dependent for years, Luis Enrique’s Barcelona, Valverde’s Barcelona, and the Argentina national team for 15 or 20 years.

“In other words, when you have a player like Messi, you’re clearly going to develop a dependency on him. It’s impossible not to depend on him.

“It’s clear that there are days when the team perhaps helps him more and other days when it helps him less.”

The team’s defense struggled in the series against Vancouver in the international tournament, letting in five goals in total.

But the focus remains on the attack, with Messi and Luis Suárez failing to find the back of the net throughout the 180+ minutes.

“Two weeks ago, we were like Disneyland in here, it was all joy and everything was fine. Well, I’m not on one side or the other,” Mascherano said.

“Not even two weeks ago we were undefeated in the MLS and had lost only one game in 8 or 9 matches we played, and everyone was praising the team’s performance. I’ve always said here, we had to be prepared for bad moments. I’m not going to go crazy now either. This is how it is, this is football.”

Victory against Red Bulls at Chase Stadium on Saturday night will see Inter Miami end their losing streak and Mascherano maintained the focus remains on succeeding in MLS before looking ahead to the Club World Cup in the summer.

“We have to keep our heads down, work hard, become stronger as a group, and know that we have to break out of this dynamic of losing these three games,” Mascherano said. “Tomorrow we have a great opportunity to return to victory and start putting history back on track. Not much more than that. It’s not that complicated.”