Mexico’s Monterrey is already ahead of Inter Miami after they beat the latter 2-1 in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarter-finals. On top of that, Monterrey’s head coach, Fernando Ortiz, has played enough mind games to rock the Miami side. He said refereeing would be biased to the Herons before the game. After the match, Ortiz and Miami captain Lionel Messi verbally confronted each other over the former’s comments. Now, Ortiz and Co. need to hold their home bastion against the MLS side to advance further in the CCC.

However, USMNT legend Alexi Lalas says the Mexican side will struggle against the MLS side. Lalas said so because Monterrey has to deal with the ‘monster’ they have created out of Messi after infuriating him.

The anticipated Monterrey-Inter Miami second leg became a talking point in the latest episode of the Alexi Lalas-hosted State of the Union podcast. Unsurprisingly, Lalas and his co-host addressed Ortiz’s fight with Lionel Messi after the game. “It’s one thing to have a Zen Messi. It’s another thing to have angry Messi,” said Lalas. He added that certain players become vulnerable when they are insinuated, but not Lionel Messi. “I think it only lights another fire in Messi. So a pissed-off Messi, going down to Mexico after what happened. Be careful, you might have created a monster,” the USMNT veteran added.

Inter Miami coach Tata Martino is highly optimistic about Lionel Messi featuring in the match against Monterrey. The 36-year-old notably missed out on the last Monterrey tie and three other MLS games due to a hamstring problem. But he recovered and returned against Colorado in the MLS to score a goal within minutes. Now, let’s look at all the details the Monterrey entourage has done to create a monster out of La Pulga.

Everything to know about the Lionel Messi-Monterrey fiasco before Inter Miami’s game

During a pre-game press conference, Fernando Ortiz accused the CONCACAF Champions Cup of being manipulated to benefit Lionel Messi. He said the stakeholders will ensure Messi wins the cup so that he can participate in the Club World Cup next year. However, the contrary happened on the field in the first leg clash between the two sides. The match official red-carded Miami’s David Ruiz. David Beckham’s franchise notably conceded the losing goals after they lost Ruiz. Subsequently, Messi went chest-to-chest with Ortiz and referred to his comments on the tournament being rigged.

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Meanwhile, a leaked locker room conversation of the Monterrey entourage showed their assistant coach Nico Sanchez call Leo Messi a dwarf. Additionally, the Liga MX club has also reportedly filed a complaint against Messi and other Inter Miami players for questioning the referee’s decisions and picking a fight with Fernando Ortiz. The developments of the complaint are still unclear. Perhaps the upcoming match might give closure to that.

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To sum up, when all these factors are considered, Monterrey has done more than enough to provoke Messi. Only time will tell if he uses his anger to silence the Mexican rivals.

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