Inter Miami was 2-0 on the aggregates against the Los Angeles FC when Lionel Messi inspired a 3-1 return for his team during the return match of the quarter-finals of the Concacaf Champions Cup. Messi scored two goals while Miami qualified for the semi-finals for the first time.
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Decreasing 1-0 on the dashboard, down 2-0 in total of the series’s goals and needing three goals to move forward, Inter Miami needed a most improbable rally.
Lionel Messi did it.
Inter Miami heads for the semi -finals of the Concacaf Champions Cup for the first time, after Messi – eight times winner of Golden Ball – led a dramatic return of three goals.
Messi marks two and creates one in the inspiring return
Messi scored two goals and a decisive pass, including the penalty kick in the 84th minute, to raise Inter Miami after Lafc 3-1 Wednesday evening and a global 3-2 victory in the two-leg series.
“We have given everything,” said Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano. “We wanted it, we wanted to be in the semi-finals, and I think it has shown. … Several times, luck must be on your side, and we have had it.”
Lionel Messi is 37 years old and he actually scores howrs every week …
GOAT. pic.twitter.com/7zo6mwxdxh
– George (@ stokeyyg2) April 10, 2025
Maybe it was luck. Maybe it was Messi. It was perhaps both.
For Messi, the Clincher series reminded a little of how he directed Argentina after France in the World Cup final in 2022. He scored two goals in this match, one on a penalty kick – then also converted into the penalty shooter shooting that decided the final after its end in 3-3 equality. These goals came against Hugo Lloris of France, which was also in net for Lafc on Wednesday evening.
Lloris could not resolve Messi in the World Cup final – and couldn’t either in it. Messi simply waited for Lloris to move a little on the penalty that put Inter Miami 3-1, essentially freeing the goalkeeper before gently sending the ball into the right side of the net.
Messi against Lloris
Never in doubt 😏
(via @FoxSOCCER))pic.twitter.com/qjrnkodhws
– B / R Football (@brfootball) April 10, 2025
And when the final whistle sounded, Mascherano struck the air to celebrate.
“They believed,” said Mascherano.
Oscar Ustari made two huge stops in the last minutes for Inter Miami, which will face either the Mexican club pumas or the Vancouver Whitecaps in the semi-finals of the tournament. The first stage of this two -leg match should start on April 22, 23 or 24.
Aaron Long scored in the ninth minute to give Lafc an advance of 1-0, but that put Inter Miami in a much deeper hole than that. Inter Miami lost the opening of the series at Lafc 1-0, so the goal of Long not only gave Lafc an advance of 2-0, but this also gave his club control of the equality of the goals outside.
This meant that Identify at least three goals from there to move forward. It could have seemed unlikely.
With Messi, anything is possible.
Messi started the rally at the 35th, standing out near the top of the 18 yards box and marking with the left foot to link the match to 1 – giving Inter Miami a little hope.
Noah Allen gave Inter Miami an advance of 2-1 in the 61st – Messi obtaining aid – on a little luck; He cut a ball in the box, playing him towards Federico Redondo. Lloris came out of his line, providing that Redondo plays the ball – but he rebounded on the grass, jumped them both and ended up on the side of the net.
This has established the aggregate at 2-2, but Lafc has always held the break in the outside. And in the 67th, Inter Miami thought he had taken the lead in the series when Messi played a bullet in the box that Luazre seemed to start the net on a header-but the flag came for offside, removing the goal of the painting.
Inter Miami maintained the pressure throughout, then successfully pleaded for a handball call that Messi turned into an advance of 3-1 and a place in the semi-finals. It was his 42nd goal in 48 appearances in all competitions since he joined Inter Miami.
“This is how,” said Mascherano. “It’s the way to play football. … They gave everything. I am very happy. “
