Javier Mascherano slams timing of All-Star Game as Miami await news on Lionel Messi suspension

Javier Mascherano has slammed the timing of the MLS All-Star Game as “crazy” with Inter Miami still waiting to hear if Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba will be sanctioned for skipping the fixture.

Normally players who miss the ASG without a medical exemption are handed a one-game ban but it seems likely MLS will offer leniency to the former Barcelona pair due to Miami’s hectic schedule around the Club World Cup.

Mascherano does not understand scheduling

The ASG was played in Austin on Wednesday night in between regular league games, a situation Mascherano finds baffling.

The Miami boss said: “What I think is that if they want to do this type of event, it’s great to do it, and the truth is that it’s great for the league. There shouldn’t be a date in the [regular] schedule. It’s crazy. 

“We’ve been playing four of the last five games away. We’ve been playing four away. We’ve been playing practically every three days.

“Stop for the weekend, the All-Star Game is played on the weekend, and we come back because after Wednesday, today, 48 hours after having played, there are teams that are going to play today, and it’s not enough rest for the players either. 

“So, the first thing we have to think about is that football belongs to the players. And if football belongs to the players, without players, it doesn’t exist.”

Messi still shining at 38

Messi has played every minute in 22 of the Florida side’s last 23 games in all competitions, even though he is now 38 years of age.

Despite that workload, he has maintained his usual lofty standards, scoring at least two goals in six of Miami’s last seven MLS games, including a run of five straight.

Mascherano added: “We have to understand that Leo is happy playing and every time he’s able to play, he’s going to. We clearly have an advantage when we play and we want to use that as much as possible in as many games as possible.”

Messi and Alba returned to training on Friday and are likely to be in the side that faces FC Cincinnati on Saturday night at Chase Stadium, bar any late ruling from MLS.

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