Inter Miami practiced on Friday thinking there was no way Sergio Busquets would be able to play in the play-off match against Atlanta United.

A few hours later, the team got quite a surprise.

Busquets – who coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino said had been ruled out of Saturday’s match – was medically cleared to play on Friday afternoon and is listed as doubtful. Busquets went through training on his own after the rest of the team trained on Friday, meaning Lionel Messi could have one of his most trusted teammates by his side with the season on the line.

“We are confident in the progress of his recovery and hope he will be available for Saturday’s match,” the team said.

Busquets was hit somewhere around his abdomen in Game 1 of the best-of-three series and developed pneumonia-like symptoms. He didn’t play in Game 2 last week — a 2-1 win in Atlanta — and Inter Miami needs to win on Saturday just to extend its season and reach the second round of the MLS Cup playoffs.

“In the best case, there are four finals left,” Martino said on Friday morning, in the same interview session in which he revealed that Busquets would not play – because that is what he really thought at the time. “Each of the remaining games has the characteristics of a finals game and we, with the expectations we have, are ready to meet them in the best way.”

Inter Miami hopes to have four more matches this season: the conclusion of Round 1 on Saturday, followed by a conference semifinal, a conference final and the MLS Cup final. If Inter Miami continues to win, all four games would be at home. If it loses a match, the season ends there for the team that won the Supporters’ Shield and posted the best regular-season record in MLS history.

Atlanta has already won four elimination games this season – their two must-win games to keep their hopes alive at the end of the regular season against the New York Red Bulls and Orlando City, then a wild-card game in Montreal and Game 2 of this . series against Inter Miami.

The difference is that this is also an elimination match for Messi. And when asked this week how Messi’s numbers haven’t been great in this series — no goals and one assist in the two games — Atlanta interim coach Rob Valentino wanted no part of that storyline.

“Messi is fantastic,” said Valentino. “There’s no slander on my part. He’s a fantastic player. Whether people say he’s produced or not produced, I don’t want to hear it because he’s fantastic.”

Atlanta is the only MLS team to beat Inter Miami twice this season, and both wins came with Messi in the lineup; the club is 2-1-1 against the No. 1 overall seed so far this season.

The rest of MLS combined went 0-12-5 against Inter Miami when Messi was in the lineup. But Atlanta’s plan against Messi appears to have worked; he has one goal on 19 shots, eight of which are on target, in the four games between the clubs this season.

“What he brings to a game, what he brings to a team, just him being on the field, that demands your attention,” Atlanta United goalkeeper Brad Guzan said. “There are very few times when Plan A works. It’s Plan B, Plan C and Plan D and you have to adapt very quickly.”

Busquets, the team said, will be considered questionable, which typically means the club’s medical staff will see how he feels on matchday before making a final decision.

Reporting by Associated Press.

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