Inter Miami was defeated 3-1 by Atlanta United this Saturday during their visit to the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, in the 32nd round of the MLS. Argentine coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino started Ecuadorians Dixon Arroyo and Leonardo Campana. Argentina’s Lionel Messi, who just returned from the national team, was not invited.

Ecuador’s Leonardo Campana opened the scoring in the 25th minute, Tristan Muyumba equalized in the 36th, and Kamal Miller scored an own goal in the 43rd minute to give the hosts the advantage.

Towards the end of the first half, Brooks Lennon scored the third goal for Atlanta, making them comfortable without Leo Messi in front of them.

Messi has eleven goals in eleven games for Inter Miami and returned to work at the club’s sports center on Thursday. He is in good form after playing 88 minutes and scoring in Argentina’s win against Ecuador, but Martino is unwilling to take any chances with his star player at a crucial time of the season.

Because Inter Miami restarted their campaign with three wins and a draw in their last four MLS games and knew how to overcome La Pulga’s absence last week with a remarkable 3-2 win against Sporting Kansas City to move closer to ninth in the league in the East, giving access to playoffs.

Inter Miami has a very intense schedule of matches, and in less than two weeks the final of the US Open Cup will be played against the Houston Dynamo.

MLS will have an interesting schedule of matches this Saturday with the New York derby between the New York Red Bulls and New York City, two clubs in need of a reboot. At this point, both are out of the playoff spots.