The Columbus Crew was preparing to face Lionel Messi of Inter Miami

Wilfried Nancy has not yet had the opportunity to train against the Inter Miami team, in which Lionel Messi also played. Still, the Crew’s coach felt the impact Messi had on the development of MLS.

Before the Crew’s match against Inter Miami on Wednesday, Nancy joked about her friends from her native France. Nancy said they always ask how Messi is doing in MLS, even though Nancy coaches another team.

“It’s good for the league,” Nancy said. “Of course it’s good for everyone. It’s a good introduction (to the league). Then I can talk about what we do here and what we do in MLS.”

Since Messi started playing for Inter Miami in July 2023, the team has played two matches against the club. Messi was unavailable for both the June regular season match and the English League Cup round of 16 in August.

Messi was unavailable for the first match due to Argentina’s national team training ahead of the Copa America tournament. It was in the Copa America final that Messi suffered a right ankle injury, which ruled him out of the League Cup.

Messi returned from injury, returned to play in Miami on September 14, and it was confirmed that he had traveled from Miami to Columbus for the upcoming match.

More: How Columbus Crew stays in the race for first place against Inter Miami

The Crew has watched Messi play throughout the season. Nancy showing Messi’s match tape has little to do with gathering information about upcoming matches.

“He was an example to me when I was trying to teach my players certain things,” Nancy said. “Because he is a player who has obviously won a lot of things, but what I like about him is that he plays with common sense. So when he needs to pass, he passes the ball. When it’s time to dribble, he will do it. And I rarely see anything like that.”

The crew, especially the backline, is excited about this challenge.

Defender Steven Moreira, who has faced top players on other teams such as Los Angeles FC’s Denis Bouanga and FC Cincinnati’s Luciano Acosta, says he sees it as “motivation” when the team is competing against big-name players. Fellow defender Rudy Camacho can identify with Moreira in this regard.

“It forces you to concentrate more because you know your opponents don’t need many chances,” Camacho said. “They are clinical. So you have to stay in the game for a whole second. You have to stay focused because, like I said, it doesn’t take much. But when he touches the ball, an assist or a goal can make the difference, so it’s always special.”

Given the intense excitement about Messi’s presence in Wednesday’s lineup, Nancy also wanted the crew to remember that there was more to Miami’s lineup.

The Crew split the two games they played against Miami, losing 2-1 away in the regular season and winning 3-2 in the League Cup. In both matches, Columbus had to fight every minute of the match and prove to the team how strong Miami’s squad was, even without Messi.

“Everyone knows Messi,” Nancy said. “We know what he can do, so the idea is to prepare the match like we prepare every match, knowing that there is a player who can make a difference. He’s not the only one. … Everyone knows what they can do individually. It’s more about the contact with other players because Miami was still good without Messi.”

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Lionel Messi in Columbus: Crew prepares for match against Inter Miami