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<p style="display: none;">Article continues below</p><script type="application/json" data-placement="betting-e2">{"type":"betting-e2","data":{"key":{"mobile":"fb9f812b41240655c161bb3d4ad2cf3f","desktop":"671024543858da3e0dfea5d9450ab1a4"}}}</script><p style="display: none;">Article continues below</p><p style="display: none;">Article continues below</p><script type="application/json" data-placement="fcplayer-semantic">{"type":"fcplayer-semantic","data":{"embedCode":"//cdn.fcp.codes/embed-code-template/embed-code-template.js#SEMANTIC_5704afb8-c10b-4ba5-9cb4-d7fb6098ef90"}}</script><ul><li>All-time great rested for away trip</li><li>Florida-based side suffered 5-2 defeat</li><li>Rivals able to block out the noise</li></ul>

‘We don’t care about Lionel Messi!’ – How Atlanta United ignored Inter Miami circus despite ‘everything’ being about absent Argentine superstar

<p>The Florida-based outfit headed out on the road for their latest MLS fixture, but did not have seven-time Ballon d’Or winner <a href="https://www.goal.com/en/news/lionel-messi-watch-son-thiago-in-action-with-inter-miami-academy/blt88da17f55009218e" target="_blank">Lionel Messi within their ranks</a> after seeing him return to the United States from <a href="https://www.goal.com/en/lists/revealed-clever-role-change-loophole-allowed-lionel-messi-bench-argentina-not-substitute/blt70ddd5ba1972fbda" target="_blank">World Cup qualifying duty with Argentina</a>. The all-time great still made plenty of headlines in his absence, but Atlanta were able to upset the form book and <a href="https://www.goal.com/en/news/no-lionel-messi-inter-miami-mls-rivals-atlanta-united/bltbb0cdbf0698c6e2e" target="_blank">inflict a 5-2 defeat on Inter Miami</a>.</p>

WHAT HAPPENED?

<p>Portuguese winger Silva, who completed a loan move to America in August, told reporters of the defiant message that had been sounded by the Atlanta squad before a ball was kicked: “We don’t care about Messi. We care about us. We want to be in the play-offs.”</p>

THE BIGGER PICTURE

<p>Atalanta boss Gonzalo Pineda was also eager to point out that his team had done everything in their power to <a href="https://www.goal.com/en/lists/never-seen-anything-like-it-lionel-messi-spectacle-inter-miami-amazes-barcelona-marc-bartra/blt3fbd82599cca0502" target="_blank">turn attention away from Messi</a> - regardless of whether he figured in Inter Miami’s plans or not. He said: “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’.”</p>

WHAT THEY SAID

<p>Atlanta have cemented their standing inside the MLS Eastern Conference play-off places, as they sit sixth, but Inter Miami remain second-from-bottom and have a seven-point gap to bridge through just six games in order to make the post-season.</p>

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

‘We don’t care about Lionel Messi!’ – How Atlanta United ignored Inter Miami circus despite ‘everything’ being about absent Argentine superstar | Goal.com English Qatar

Atlanta United managed to ignore the distractions of Inter Miami’s travelling circus, with Xande Silva saying afterwards: “We don’t care about Messi.”

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