Why didn’t Messi want to play on artificial turf in Inter Miami’s loss to Atlanta?
Coach Tata Martino explained that Messi still suffers from “muscle fatigue”, and would be reckless if the Argentine star played against Atlanta.
Atlanta’s artificial turf surface made Messi decide not to take any risks. Playing on such a field will face a higher risk of injury, at a time when Messi is not in the best shape after going through a busy schedule of matches and travel.
Messi signed up for the role of assistant coach in Argentina’s recent win over Bolivia in the 2026 World Cup qualifier.
In his first 11 matches with Inter Miami, Messi has not had to play a single match on artificial turf. Atlanta is one of six American clubs using this field, along with Charlotte FC, New Emgland Revolution, Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps.
Previous European soccer stars also avoided playing on artificial turf when moving to MLS. Thierry Henry in his 4 and a half years playing for the New York Red Bulls did not play once on this field. Didier Drogba, Ibrahimovic too.
Atlanta’s artificial turf makes Messi not want to take risks
The debate about the higher risk of injury when playing on artificial turf in the US is heating up again after the injury of Aaron Rodgers, a player of the New York Jets football team, on Monday. The MVP of four NFL seasons tore his Achilles tendon while playing on MetLife using artificial turf, and his season ended early. Rodgers’ injury caused many NFL players to ask the League to take action soon. “Players prefer to play on natural turf, and statistics show it is safer than artificial turf. Need to change now” – Announcement from the NFL Players Association.
Messi once shared that he is ready to adapt to some artificial turf fields in the US. M10 affirmed that he is not too unfamiliar with this field because he played when he was in Barca’s youth group. However, with high “value” legs, not only professionally, Messi personally as well as Inter Miami do not want to take risks, especially after Rodgers got injured.
