Info to know: Atlanta United vs. Miami in Game 2 of the MLS playoffs

Atlanta United will host Inter Miami at 7 p.m. Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The game will be televised on AppleTV, and you can follow Doug Roberson’s coverage on X (formerly Twitter) @DougRobersonAJC.

Miami manager: Gerardo Martino

Miami away record: 11-2-4

Miami goals for/against: 81/50

Miami key players

Lionel Messi: 20 goals, 16 assists

Luis Suarez: 21 goals, nine assists

Julian Gressel: one goal, 12 assists

ExploreAtlanta United ready for Inter Miami in Game 2 of MLS playoffs

About Atlanta United

Manager: Rob Valentino (interim)

Atlanta United home record: 6-7-4

Atlanta United goals for/against: 49/53

Atlanta United key players

Saba Lobjanidze: 10 goals, seven assists

Daniel Rios: Seven goals, four assists

Jamal Thiare: Six goals

Alexey Miranchuk: Three goals, two assists

Injury reports (as of Thursday)

Atlanta United

Out: Edwin Mosquera (knee), Quentin Westberg (concussion protocol) and Brooks Lennon (shoulder)

Questionable: Stian Gregersen (hamstring)

Miami

Out: Ian Fray (knee)

What was said

“They leave the players in the attack. So that’s why you have a lot of space, and we have to attack. We have to create the chances. Because we’re going have a lot of opportunity for this, and we have to be good on the ball from the first second.” — Bartosz Slisz

“You’re going to have to score a couple goals against them. That’s the nature of playing against Inter Miami right now. They’re just so, so dangerous and so good going forward. You’re going to have to live with conceding a few opportunities and potentially conceding a few goals. But we need to score a few ourselves and make sure that that we’re more dangerous when we have the ball.” — Dax McCarty

“The internal pressure that we put on ourselves, it should be there every day, whether it’s training or whether it’s a game. I said it a long time ago ... the pressure is a privilege for us, that we’re in a position to have this kind of pressure to play in a big game. We’ve been playing like this for a while. We’re exactly where we wanted to be. We wanted to be in the playoffs. We wanted to be fighting to stay alive. It’s a fantastic team, but we’re really looking forward to the challenge on Saturday and in front of our home fans, like that’s a big boost for everybody.” — Valentino

“You have to enjoy yourself to play a game like this. It’s not every week you play a game against this type of player, this type of team. And, of course, you have to be focused because a lot of attention, a lot of everything, is pretty much going on.” — Alexey Miranchuk

Officiating crew

Referee: Rubiel Vazquez

Assistants: Jose Da Silva and Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho

Fourth Official: Lukasz Szpala

VAR: Chris Penso

AVAR: TJ Zablocki

Atlanta United’s predicted 11

Goalkeeper Brad Guzan

Centerback Derrick Williams

Centerback Luis Abram

Right fullback Ronald Hernandez

Left fullback Pedro Amador

Midfielder Tyler Wolff

Midfielder Alexey Miranchuk

Midfielder Jay Fortune

Midfielder Bartosz Slisz

Midfielder Saba Lobjanidze

Striker Jamal Thiare

For more content about Atlanta United

Follow me on Twitter/X @DougRobersonAJC

On Facebook at Atlanta United News Now

On Instagram at DouglasDavidRoberson

Atlanta United coverage on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Southern Fried Soccer podcast can be found

Apple - https://apple.co/3ISD6Ve

Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3L8TN0C

Google podcasts - https://bit.ly/32KlZW3

If you are going to listen to the podcast for the first time, please follow it on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts ... and if you like what you hear, please give us a good rating so we can grow the show. If you have questions about the MLS team, you can email Doug Roberson at droberson@ajc.com, DM him on Twitter @dougrobersonajc or call 404-526-2527.

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Atlanta United’s 2024 schedule

Feb. 24 Columbus 1, Atlanta United 0

March 9 Atlanta United 4, New England 1

March 17 Atlanta United 2, Orlando 0

March 23 Toronto 2, Atlanta United 0

March 31 Atlanta United 3, Chicago 0

April 6 Atlanta United 1, NYCFC 1

April 14 Atlanta United 2, Philadelphia 2

April 20 Cincinnati 2, Atlanta United 1

April 27 Atlanta United 1, Chicago 1

May 4 Minnesota 2, Atlanta United 1

May 7 Atlanta United 3, Charlotte Independence 0 in U.S. Open Cup