Lionel Messi expected in Montreal early this evening

This morning, Inter Miami’s coach confirmed the news. He expects Lionel Messi to travel AND be available against CF Montreal.

Even though Messi played a lot of minutes at the Club World Cup, the guys have had two days off and no games for almost a week. That’ll do!

This morning, Samuel Piette, Dawid Bugaj and Marco Donadel – who met the media live from the Nutrilait Centre – were all preparing to face Lionel Messi.

All thatremains to be seen is whether he’ll be in the starting line-up or whether he’ ll come on board during the match. After all, you don’t fly Messi to Canada just to sit on the bench for 90 minutes..

Where will Messi be staying?
Last year, Lionel Messi and Inter Miami arrived in Montreal in the evening, before setting off for the Ritz Carlton. The entire team requisitioned an entire floor, and if my information is correct – she smells it, hehe – we even had the conference room converted into a temporary gym so the guys never had to leave their floor.

Messi had a suite all to himself. And many rooms are rented, paid for… but not used!

So we can expect to see Mesi and his gang arriving at the Ritz Carlton after suppertime today, on their afternoon flight to Montreal. Security, police, fans… it’s all going to be on Sherbrooke Street West.

According to people familiar with the situation, even people from the Ritz Carlton will not have access to the floor reserved by Inter Miami.

“It’s so complicated that in the end, we give ourselves more trouble than anything else when Messi comes.” – Anonymous source

Tickets gaining in value
There are still around a hundred dynamic regular-price tickets on the official CF Montreal website. However, good $100 and $170 tickets can still be found on sites like StubHub and Billets.ca.

Yes, I know, it won’t be as “special” as last year’s game tomorrow night, but it’s still an official match against Lionel Messi and his team. Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez..

Prices could explode between now and tomorrow.

Extension

– Facing Ousmane Dembélé, Nuno Mendes, Achraf Hakimi and company, then Victor Loturi, Tom Pearce and Brandon Craig, will be different for Inter Miami players.

– Even if he’s not at 100%, Samuel Piette expects to have to make some big defensive plays against the best player in history tomorrow at the Stade.

– Marco Donadel will send out his best possible XI to start the game tomorrow, even though Wednesday’s match against Forge FC will be of paramount importance.

– It’s already been twice this year that the Alouettes and Montreal CF have played on the same night, both in Montreal (even though the Sparrows ‘ season has just begun). Why not talk to each other before making your schedules, guys?