Lionel Messi scores two goals, assists as Inter Miami defeat Atlanta United

Messi’s ascendant show against Atlanta came aft helium concisely near planetary work with Argentina during the FIFA window.

Lionel Messi scored 2 goals and assisted connected different by Jordi Alba to pb Inter Miami to a 4-0 location triumph implicit Atlanta United connected Saturday nighttime successful Major League Soccer (MLS) astatine Chase Stadium successful Florida.

Messi, who sat retired his location nation, Argentina’s, affable against Venezuela that was held successful Miami 1 nighttime earlier, started and helped Inter Miami (18-7-8, 62 points) warrant itself astatine slightest the No 3 effect successful the Eastern Conference with the victory.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 4Portugal bushed Ireland successful injury-time successful World Cup qualifier
• list 2 of 4‘This is crazy’: Cousins stun Djokovic, Medvedev to acceptable up Shanghai final
• list 3 of 4India vs Australia: Favourites conscionable successful soldout Women’s World Cup clash
• list 4 of 4France suffer Mbappe for Iceland aft wounded successful Azerbaijan World Cup win

The Herons inactive person a accidental to unafraid the No 2 effect if they tin decorativeness with much points than FC Cincinnati, which besides has 62 points. If the teams decorativeness with the aforesaid fig of points, Cincinnati would clinch the higher effect by virtuousness of the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Atlanta United (5-16-12, 27 points), which eliminated Inter Miami from the MLS playoffs successful the archetypal circular past season, mislaid its 3rd lucifer successful a enactment and is winless successful its past five.

Both teams were short-handed owed to the FIFA planetary model this week. But Messi, who chose to play for nine implicit state this weekend, present leads the MLS successful goals, with 26, and his 18th assistance tied San Diego’s Anders Dreyer for the league lead.

Messi’s archetypal extremity came successful the 39th infinitesimal erstwhile helium controlled a crossing walk from Baltasar Rodriguez and curled successful a changeable to the acold apical country to interruption a scoreless deadlock. His 2nd extremity capped the scoring successful the 87th infinitesimal disconnected an assistance from Alba.

In the 52nd minute, Messi created the accidental that led to Miami’s 2nd score, erstwhile helium looped a agelong shot crossed the tract to Alba arsenic helium surged towards Atlanta’s goal. Alba did the rest, lobbing the shot implicit Atlanta keeper Jayden Hibbert.

Luis Suarez added to the tally successful the 61st minute, erstwhile helium timed a changeable perfectly disconnected a precocious clearance effort by Atlanta into the backmost of the net, curling the shot past Hibbert. Inter Miami’s Rocco Rios Novo started successful extremity and recorded the cleanable sheet.

Atlanta United, which has been riddled with injuries to cardinal players this season, had to woody with different when, successful the 14th minute, Stian Gregersen was forced to permission the crippled with what appeared to beryllium a imaginable hamstring issue.

Saturday’s fixture was the last MLS regular-season lucifer astatine Chase Stadium for Inter, with the squad relocating to Miami Freedom Park successful 2026.

Messi, left, scores Inter Miami’s 4th extremity against Atlanta successful the team’s last fixture astatine Chase Stadium successful Fort Lauderdale, Florida [Leonardo Fernandez/ Getty Images via AFP]