Last year, Lionel Messi and Inter Miami’s round one playoff exit at the hands of Atlanta United was bad.

A repeat this week against Nashville SC would be much, much worse.

Yet that’s exactly the prospect Messi and the Herons are facing this Saturday night when Sam Surridge, Hany Mukhtar and the Coyotes come back to South Florida for Game 3 of their series.

It’s hard to forget how shocking it was when Miami, then the Eastern Conference top seed, lost games 2 and 3 of its 2024 series to eighth-seeded Atlanta.

A loss Saturday for third-seeded Miami against sixth-seeded Nashville would feel less jilting. And that’s an indictment on a Miami project that has appeared to regress while also -- by outward appearances, at least -- becoming increasingly influenced by Messi’s singular preference

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