Inter Miami Feel Absence of Messi as Atlanta Rout a Humiliating Defeat 

Inter Miami suffered their first defeat since the Argentine Lionel Messi joined the club, with a 5-2 hammering at Atlanta United damaging their playoff hopes on early Sunday in the American League.  The 36-year-old sat out Argentina’s World Cup qualifier against Bolivia in La Paz on Tuesday but watched his teammates from the bench. Messi had not made the trip to Atlanta, after a busy run of games since making his Miami debut in late July. Miami coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino said after the loss that Messi had been suffering from “muscle fatigue" and that it would have been “very reckless to bring him to play this game". For the first time, Inter Miami fell since Messi arrived last July 15, after he joined the team, on a free deal, after the end of his contract with his former French club, Paris Saint-Germain. The Argentine star led Inter Miami to achieve the first title in the American club's history, by winning the League Cup title, and also reached the America's Cup final.