Messi, Inter Miami Start Playoff Push at Red Bulls

Inter Miami and Lionel Messi focus on the primary task at hand on Saturday after the high-octane exhilaration of their victorious Leagues Cup campaign and the joy of their comeback triumph in the US Open Cup semi-final.

The Major League Soccer regular season is back in full swing, and Miami, who will be visiting the New York Red Bulls, has a difficult challenge before of it: moving up from last place in the Eastern Conference to a playoff spot.

Miami had the poorest record in the MLS before the break for the League Cup and the arrival of Messi, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba. They had lost all 11 of their games.

In most leagues in the world, a team in that position would be focused purely on avoiding relegation from the top flight.

But MLS has no relegation and instead has a playoff system which could yet offer a way for the new-look Miami, under Argentine coach Gerardo 'Tata' Martino, to compete for the title -- MLS Cup.

The top nine finishers in each conference earn a spot in the playoffs with the top seven going into the first round, best of three series of games.

The eighth and ninth placed teams play each other in a single elimination 'wild card' match to get into the first round.

Miami are currently 14 points behind ninth place with 12 games left and so have little room for error in the remainder of the season.

But the form they have shown since the arrival of Messi and his two former Barcelona team-mates, unbeaten in eight games, albeit winning three of their knockout ties via penalties, suggests such a playoff push is not out of the question.

It will be a long slog to turn Inter's MLS season around and adding to the difficulty of the task, Martino admitted after Wednesday's shoot-out win over Cincinnati in the US Open Cup, that his star man was amongst those feeling the pace of their recent exertions.

"Both Leo and many other players are reaching an important physical limit and from today we will evaluate how we approach the next three matches," he said.

"The fatigue is overcome with all the enthusiasm ... I hope the team in the future could play better, but it's very difficult to do that when you almost can't rest," he added.

If one or more of Messi, Busquets, or Alba start on the bench at Red Bull Arena on Saturday, Martino will still have the option of inserting them into the game in the second half.

The Red Bulls, who are 11 points ahead of Miami in the East standings, have their own aspirations of making the postseason.

Cincinnati, the league's first-place team in the Eastern Conference, will play home to 2021 champions New York City in Saturday's games. St. Louis City, the league's top team in the West, will travel to Orlando City.

The reigning champions Los Angeles FC will play Charlotte FC in North Carolina.