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Atlanta United loanee Xande Silva wants the focus to be on his team rather than on Lionel Messi after their recent 5-2 win over Inter Miami. Silva believes that they are fighting to be in the MLS playoffs and deserve to be the talking point.
Speaking to the media after the game, Silva said that the Atlanta camp did not care about Messi missing the match and are just focused on themselves.
He said:
“We don’t care about Messi, we care about us. We want to be in the playoffs. That’s what we are going to do."
Atalanta boss Gonzalo Pineda also echoed similar sentiments, saying that he urged the players to concentrate on themselves rather than what is being said about Inter Miami and Messi. He was quoted by GOAL as saying:
"A lot of things that are going out there in the atmosphere and everything seems to be about Inter Miami, about Messi, about all that. And I told them we have to turn that down to ‘it’s about us, it’s about Atlanta United’."
Lionel Messi missed the Inter Miami's loss to Atlanta United as he was not fit. He had also missed Argentina's World Cup qualifier against Bolivia earlier in the week.
Lionel Messi has saved MLS, says Ex-USMNT star
Former United States star Geoff Cameron has said that Lionel Messi joining Inter Miami has saved MLS. He said that the league's viewership numbers were on a downward trajectory and the Argentine has got them back up.
He was on talkSPORT when he said:
"The impact he has had so far has been astronomical. The owners, I'm sure, are all happy. [With] the Apple deal, I think he saved the league, essentially [because] the subscribers and viewership was a bit down and they really wanted to push and people know what Messi brings."
He added:
"This is a guy that's one of the best players to have ever played and he and Ronaldo are two players that have changed the game in the most unbelievable way. Now Messi's coming here to the States, what his viewership [brings] and what he's accomplished just raises the level here in MLS."
David Beckham stated that the Argentine getting unveiled at Inter Miami was viewed a stunning 3.5 billion times online. Lionel Messi has also helped fill the stadiums he has played in so far this season.
