Reigning MLS Most Useful Participant Lionel Messi kicked off Inter Miami’s 2025 season in type on Wednesday, scoring the one objective in frigid Kansas Metropolis because the Herons beat Sporting KC within the first leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup home-and-home, total-goals-wins sequence.
Lionel Messi’s scientific end helps Inter Miami take 1-0 lead over Sporting Kansas Metropolis
Three days earlier than the official begin of the highest U.S. and Canadian league’s new season, Messi stole the present within the first aggressive match for each groups this yr. Messi, who helped Miami set a brand new common season factors report in 2024 by scoring 20 objectives in simply 19 appearances, broke a scoreless tie on Wednesday within the 56th minute.
The match, which was delayed 24 hours due to dangerously chilly winter climate within the Midwest, was nonetheless performed in temperatures effectively beneath the freezing mark. At kickoff, the thermometer learn 5 levels Fahrenheit.
Regardless of hypothesis that the 37-year-old Argentine World Cup winner would possibly sit the sport out due to the situations, Messi and his former Barcelona teammate Sergio Busquets performed all 90 minutes nonetheless. Coach Javier Mascherano subbed 38-year-old Luis Suárez out shortly earlier than the ultimate whistle.
Jordi Alba, one other Barça alum, missed the match attributable to a minor damage, as did Inter beginning goalkeeper Drake Calendar.
Miami will host Jap Convention rival New York Metropolis FC in Saturday’s MLS common season opener. The Herons will welcome SKC within the decisive Champions Cup second leg three days later, on Feb. 25 at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer author for FOX Sports activities who has lined the United States males’s and ladies’s nationwide groups at FIFA World Cups on 5 continents. Comply with him at @ByDougMcIntyre.
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