Lionel Messi, Inter Miami seek victory over Revolution

(FIELD LEVEL MEDIA): Inter Miami will look to continue to climb the Eastern Conference standings on Wednesday night when they take on the host New England Revolution at Foxborough, Mass.

Lionel Messi delivered one of his best performances of the season, scoring two goals and assisting on another, to lead Miami (9-3-5, 32 points) to a valuable three-point result following a 4-1 road win over CF Montreal last Saturday.

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The Revolution (6-7-6, 24 points) are seeking to bounce back after a 2-1 loss at Portland on Saturday and chasing their first win since May 31.

With only 17 matches played while most of the rest of the league has played either 20 or 21, Miami has an opportunity to close the gap between itself and the rest of the conference’s contenders.

This will likely force Miami to manage playing time with veterans like Messi, making his status for the New England tilt a bit unclear. Inter Miami may also be without defender Noah Allen (hamstring) for Wednesday’s game.

“In Leo’s case, if Leo is fine and doesn’t have any problems, obviously my idea is always to let him play, because we know that if there’s anyone who knows how to manage himself on the pitch and knows his body, it’s him,” Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said on Tuesday.

New England is looking to snap a four-match winless streak (0-3-1) and sits four points behind the Chicago Fire for the final play-in spot in the East.

The Revolution got off to a fast start, scoring the first goal both times it played Miami last season only to suffer lopsided defeats — 4-1 at home and 6-2 in South Florida.

Luca Langoni broke through for his first goal of the season on an assist from Carles Gil for the Revs’ lone goal against Portland. New England is also in a busy stretch of five matches in 15 days.

“We just have to play the game,” New England coach Caleb Porter said. “We approach with the understanding of needing to perform and need to analyse the opponent and how they’re going to try to hurt us.

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“The results haven’t been there at home the last few games, but there’s been a lot of positive play. We continue to fine-tune instead of changing everything.”