Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez celebrate Inter Miami’s victory.
Photo: EFE – CJ GUNTHER
In front of a crowd of 65,612 spectators, Inter Miami defeated the New England Revolution 4-1 this Saturday with two goals from Lionel Messi that lifted them to the top of the North American League (MLS) scoring table.
With this double, his second in a row, Messi has nine goals in seven games played at the start of the season, one ahead of Colombian Cristian Arango (Real Salt Lake) and Belgian Christian Benteke (DC United).
Inter remains at the top of the Eastern Conference with 21 points in 11 games, while the Revolution will remain in last place with four points in nine games.
Messi’s goals with Inter Miami: video
The match started with an early goal from another Argentine attacker, Tomás Chancalay, who put the hosts ahead with just 37 seconds of play.
Messi turned it around with goals in the 32nd and 68th minutes to the joy at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough (Massachusetts), the home of the New England Patriots of the NFL, where the game was moved due to the enormous demand from fans who did not They wanted to miss the visit of the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner.
This artificial grass field was the second in the American Football League (NFL) that was filled this month to receive Inter Miami, after the Arrowhead stadium of the Kansas City Chiefs, where 72,610 spectators gathered.
The Argentine-American Benjamin Cremaschi scored the third goal for the team led by Gerardo Martino in the 83rd minute.
The Uruguayan Luis Suárez, who had come on in relief in the 63rd minute, completed the win with a brilliant shot in the 89th minute after an assist from Messi.
Miami comeback
As is traditional in his visits to other MLS fields, Lionel Messi was received with ovations from the fans from the very warm-up.
Before the Argentine compensated for the high ticket prices, Inter Miami put a goal on a platter for the locals in a loss of the ball by Argentine central defender Nico Freire that led to a long pass to Chancalay, who took advantage of a bad start from goalkeeper Drake Callender to chip the ball over the top.
It was the third consecutive game in which Martino’s team conceded a goal in the first minutes of play.
Inter did not lose their composure and began to feed balls to Messi, who gave his first warning in the 29th minute with a shot from outside the area into the hands of goalkeeper Henrich Ravas.
Three minutes later, the Argentine did not forgive when he received an assist from the Finnish Robert Taylor that left him in a one-on-one with the Slovakian Ravas.
In the second half, Inter maintained control of the game until Messi made it 2-1 by receiving another great filtered pass from Busquets that allowed him to finish with a cross left footed shot.
Faced with an opponent without the ability to respond, the young Cremaschi increased the advantage by taking advantage of the goalkeeper’s rebound of a shot from Messi, who had received a cross from the left by Matías Rojas.
Suárez joined the party in the final stretch with a shot into the top corner after receiving a pass from Messi.
