Inter Miami CF head coach Tata Martino has revealed why Lionel Messi played the whole 90 minutes against Monterrey. The Herons suffered a 3-1 loss in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinal and Martino had to play Messi despite his hamstring woes.

Martino revealed there was a lot of inexperience on the bench and he wanted his talisman to stay on the pitch. Inter Miami CF suffered a 2-1 loss in the first leg of the quarterfinal and were knocked out of the tournament on 5-2 aggregate.

Martino said via GOAL, “All the players we had on the bench were young players, we were not in a situation to use them, I did not want to throw them into adverse conditions, so I felt it was best to finish the game with the players who started.”

The Argentine expressed his disappointment after getting knocked out of the tournament.

“It was disappointing to lose here and go out of the competition. We wanted to advance. We knew Monterrey was a very good team and obviously a tough opponent. They played really well and we made some mistakes that ultimately cost us. Hopefully we’ll learn from it and we can move on to the next competition and do well.”

On the other hand, Monterrey head coach Nico Sanchez said he did not mean to offend anyone with his ‘possessed dwarf’ comments on Lionel Messi.

“I said that we were going to beat them, not for a lack of respect for Miami, just because I thought that my players would understand what needed to be done. To me, Leo is the greatest player of all time, I did not mean to offend anyone, I just gave an honest opinion.”

Inter Miami CF will next take on Sporting KC on Saturday in the MLS.