LOS ANGELES, Oct 18 — Lionel Messi scored twice in the space of four minutes to lift Inter Miami to a 3-1 victory at Atlanta United yesterday as the Herons’ MLS title defence continued to gain steam with the playoffs approaching.
The 39-year-old superstar tops the Major League Soccer scoring chart with 25 goals, six ahead of Croatian striker Petar Musa of FC Dallas and Philadelphia’s Milan Iloski.
At the same Atlanta stadium where Messi helped Argentina beat England in the World Cup semi-finals in July, Messi delivered two scintillating goals to secure Miami’s third straight victory.
German Berterame, who put Miami up 1-0 in the 45th minute, turned provider, finding Messi, who weaved through the Atlanta defence to unleash a left-footed shot from the centre of the box and make it 2-0 in the 56th minute.
Four minutes later Messi struck again, breaking away on a pass from Luis Suarez and getting the better of hapless Junior Alonso to fire past Atlanta keeper Lucas Hoyos.
Messi had helped put Miami on top shortly before half-time, heading the ball to Suarez, who shook off his defender in the box and lofted a pass that Berterame nodded home to make it 1-0.
Messi was credited with an assist, which saw him pull level with LAFC’s Son Heung-min atop the assists table. Messi is the first player in MLS history to record at least 15 assists in three straight seasons.
Messi now has four goals in three matches since his emotional Argentina send-off. Miami, who clinched a playoff berth on Wednesday, won their third straight game under Cristian “Kily” Gonzalez, who took over as coach last month.
Fafa Picault converted a penalty in the 89th minute to pull a goal back for Atlanta, but with the team second from bottom in the Eastern Conference, Gerardo Martino’s side are running out of time to turn things around and reach the playoffs.
St. Louis streak ends
Elsewhere, St. Louis City’s MLS record-tying 19-match unbeaten streak ended with a 3-2 loss at Minnesota as Philadelphia’s undefeated run reached 15 matches with a 2-2 draw against Charlotte.
Canadian Marcus Caldeira scored the winner for Minnesota in the 86th minute after United fell behind early to St. Louis goals by Brazilian forward Rafael Navarro and South Korean winger Jeong Sang-bin.
Aziel Jackson replied for Minnesota in the 49th minute and Kelvin Yeboah netted the equaliser in the 68th.
St. Louis City, already headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2023, missed the chance to break the MLS unbeaten streak mark it now shares with Columbus, Dallas and Inter Miami.
City also saw their MLS-record 21-match unbeaten streak across all competitions snapped.
City had not lost an MLS match since falling 2-0 at Austin on May 3, with 13 victories and six draws during the run.
Philadelphia had won eight MLS matches in a row before the comeback home draw with Charlotte.
Philadelphia lost 6-4 at Miami on May 24 but since then the Union have won 12 times and drawn three, taking 39 of a possible 45 points since Ryan Richter took over as interim head coach during the league’s World Cup break. — AFP
