US Major League Soccer
Inter Miami 3 – 1 Nashville SC FT
Lionel Messi (right) has scored 50 regular season goals in MLS for Inter Miami [Getty Images]
Lionel Messi scored twice as Inter Miami beat Nashville SC in their opening play-off game and has “reset the trajectory for Major League Soccer”, according to the league’s commissioner Don Garber.
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After signing a new three-year contract with Inter Miami on Thursday, Messi was awarded the MLS Golden Boot, as top-scorer in the regular season, by Garber before his double in a 3-1 win to begin the best-of-three first-round series on Friday.
The Argentina forward joined Inter Miami from Paris St-Germain in 2023 and while now 38 and in the latter stages of his career, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner has continued to dazzle with his performances in the US.
Named MLS Most Valuable Player in 2024 after registering 20 goals and 16 assists, he is in line to become the first player in the league’s history to win the award back-to-back after racking up 29 goals and 20 assists in 28 games this season.
“I don’t think we ever could have imagined that Leo would have been able to deliver for this club, for this city and for this league the way he had,” Garber said.
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“He has reset the trajectory for Major League Soccer and we were already doing pretty well. And I think having three more years is just going to be another gift.”
But while the former Barcelona star has collected plenty of individual accolades, Messi and Inter Miami are still chasing the MLS’ top prize – the MLS Cup.
After topping the table to win the 2024 Supporters’ Shield, the franchise, part-owned by David Beckham and coached by Javier Mascherano, came up short in the play-offs.
Inter Miami had to settle for third in the standings this season but made a winning start to their play-off campaign in game one of their first-round series.
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Messi put them in front with a diving header in the 19th minute after a floated cross from ex-Liverpool striker Luis Suarez.
Tadeo Allende doubled the lead in the second half before Messi bundled the ball home from close range to make sure of the win in stoppage time.
Nashville pulled one back through Hany Mukhtar in the 11th minute of added time but Inter Miami take a 1-0 series lead into game two in Nashville on 1 November.
The series winners will progress to the Conference semi-finals, from which point just one match will decide who advances.
The MLS Cup final is also a one-off game.
