-
Lionel Messi scored his 937th career goal and provided an assist to inspire Inter Miami to a 2-1 victory over New England Revolution, securing qualification for the 2027 CONCACAF Champions Cup.
-
The Argentine superstar set up Germán Berterame for the opening goal in the 69th minute before producing a brilliant solo effort in the 83rd minute, dribbling past three defenders to seal all three points for Inter Miami.
-
Inter Miami moved up to second place in the Eastern Conference standings with one game remaining in the regular season, while head coach Cristian González hailed Messi as the best player in the world and backed him to win the MVP award and Ballon d’Or.
-
Messi has now registered an impressive 29 goals and 14 assists for Inter Miami this season, with the club set to face Charlotte in their final regular-season fixture on Saturday.
November 02, (THEWILL) – Lionel Messi produced a sensational performance to lead Inter Miami to a 2-1 win over the New England Revolution 2-1 on Sunday to help the team qualify for the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup.
Messi scored his 937th goal and also recorded an assist to hand Inter Miami the maximum points and a place in the Concacaf Champions Cup.
The victory was enough to move Inter Miami up to second on the Eastern Conference log with one match remaining in the Major League Soccer regular season.
The first half ended goalless despite a dominant performance from the New England Revolution before Messi assisted Germán Berterame to head home the opener in the 69th minute.
Messi added the goal in the 83rd minute after dribbling three defenders before finishing past the goalkeeper to further establish his importance to Inter Miami.
READ ALSO:
Inter Miami’s coach, Cristian González, praised Messi’s performance in the encounter.
He said: “I have no doubt that he’s the best of all.
“None of them can compare to him when it comes to respect for his colleagues. Leo at his age and what he does, from my point of view, deserves the MVP and also the Ballon d’Or. I hope he can achieve it.”
The Argentine manager also opened up on the reasons behind his decision not to start Luis Suarez.
Gonzalez added: “We knew we were going up against a rival that tries to seek out duels where they defend high, so the possibility of changes was to have depth, look for the spaces, and the one-on-one matchups. We struggled with ball possession, which at times was very passive.
“My message to the players is I need everyone. In this case, we believed we needed to make some changes.
“This doesn’t mean this is the team that’s going to start the playoffs. Everyone shows me they’re eager to want to play.”
Inter Miami have now booked a place in the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup alongside the likes of Nashville SC, New England Revolution and Vancouver Whitecaps.
Messi has now scored 29 goals and recorded 14 assists for Inter Miami this season. Up next for Inter Miami is the last match of the regular season against Charlotte on Saturday.
