Will Messi set foot on Revolution’s turf ?
The Revolution are set to play in front of a record crowd Saturday when Lionel Messi and Inter Miami come to Gillette Stadium, but the expected audience of more than 60,000 will flock to Foxborough likely not knowing more than an hour before the 7:30 p.m. kickoff whether the legendary World Cup winner will be in the lineup.
Messi, 36, will be the latest soccer superstar to grapple with the issue of the artificial turf at Gillette Stadium.
Since signing with Inter Miami in 2023 — making his debut for the team last summer by delivering a dramatic game-winning goal — the forward’s presence has generated enormous crowds everywhere he’s played.
More than 72,000 showed up to watch him in Kansas City two weeks ago, and Nashville also set an attendance record this past Saturday against Inter Miami. Messi scored goals in both games; he has seven goals and six assists in six MLS games this season.
There is never a guarantee of highlevel stars playing when their teams travel to face the Revolution. The debate over playing on turf inevitably comes to the forefront.
The Revolution, who share Gillette Stadium with the Patriots, and five of the other 29 MLS teams play on some version of synthetic turf.
In the past, other notable players — David Beckham, Zlatan Ibrahimovi , Thierry Henry — avoided playing at Gillette Stadium, though both Beckham and Henry ultimately did start games there. Turf surfaces have long been perceived as posing greater injury risks.
“As a professional athlete, you can’t play a game like soccer on that sort of field,” Beckham said after his own blockbuster MLS signing in 2007. “What it does to your body as a soccer player, you’re in bits for three days after that.”
The question now is whether Messi will go against the trend.
There are positive signs for New England soccer fans hoping to catch a glimpse of the Argentine icon. Messi debunked the fear that he would simply refuse to play on turf during his first Miami press conference in 2023.
“The truth is my youth was spent on artificial turf, my whole life was on that pitch,” he told reporters, per The Athletic. “Truth is it’s been a while since I’ve played on artificial turf, but I have no problem adapting myself again.”
Since that time, he has played a full 90 minutes on turf once, in the regularseason finale last October against Charlotte FC. While he skipped another turf game in 2023 in Atlanta, it may have been partly due to scheduling, as Miami had another game to play within days.
And in terms of the current schedule, what was arguably the biggest threat to his possible appearance Saturday has already been removed: Inter Miami, like the Revolution, was knocked out of the CONCACAF Champions Cup in the quarterfinals. Had Miami made it to the semifinal stage, Messi may have had to play games on weekdays before and after Saturday’s match.
The timing of the game against New England also seems favorable from a local fan’s perspective. As Messi and several teammates will be away this summer playing for their national teams in the 2024 Copa América, Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino recently said that he views the next month as a time to get the most out of his stars.
According to Miami Herald reporter Michelle Kaufman, Martino is “determined to rack up as many points as possible in the MLS standings over the next month before the Copa América pulls players away in June and July.”
The bigger concern for fans hoping to see the full extent of Miami’s talented roster may be the status of Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez.
The 37-year-old Suarez reportedly avoided artificial turf while playing in Brazil last season due to knee pain. His status will be worth watching. Another former Barcelona player, Miami left back Jordi Alba, is set to miss the match as part of a multiweek recovery, per Kaufman.
So, will Messi play?
It’s impossible to say this far ahead of kickoff. But he is not injured, having just returned to full fitness after missing four games earlier in the season with a hamstring issue.
There’s also this: Messi has played at Gillette Stadium before, leading Argentina to a 3-1 win over Venezuela in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Copa América Centenario. Of course, that was played on a temporarily installed grass field, as required by FIFA.
Messi’s performance that day? It was, by his own standards, routine excellence: An exquisite assist and a giveand-go goal.