Category: Lionel Messi

By KEN POWTAK (Associated Press) FOXBOROUGH, Mass.  — Lionel Messi scored two goals to excite a New England Revolution-record crowd, leading Inter Miami CF to a 4-1 victory on Saturday night. Messi didn’t disappoint the crowd of 65,612 that filled Gillette Stadium, scoring on a left-footed kick from deep inside the box for his ninth goal of the season, breaking a 1-all tie in the 68th minute. The attendance beat the previous record of 61,316, when the Revolution lost to the LA Galaxy in the 2002 MLS final. In the opening half, he was a few feet inside the box, scoring on a left-foot kick to...

FORT LAUDERDALE — Lionel Messi scored twice to increase his Major League Soccer-leading total to seven and also had an assist to lead Inter Miami over Nashville SC 3-1 on Saturday night. Messi, who had his second two-goal game in MLS after scoring two against Orlando on March 2. He has a goal or assist in each of the six league matches he’s played, missing four because of injury. Sergio Busquets scored his first goal with Miami since joining former Barcelona teammate Messi last summer. Miami (5-2-3, 21 points) is unbeaten in five matches against Nashville since Messi’s arrival. Miami also...

By TIM REYNOLDS (AP Sports Writer) FORT LAUDERDALE — Lionel Messi returned and helped salvage a tie for Inter Miami. Messi scored shortly after checking in to begin the second half and helped set up Leo Afonso’s go-ahead score two minutes later. But Cole Bassett scored in the 88th minute for the Colorado Rapids and the game ended in a 2-2 tie on Saturday night. It was Messi’s first appearance for Inter Miami since a hamstring issue led to him getting subbed out early in the second half of a CONCACAF Champions Cup match against Nashville on March 13. He had missed four Inter Miami games...

By TIM REYNOLDS (AP Sports Writer) FORT LAUDERDALE — Lionel Messi is coming back to Inter Miami’s lineup, with the team saying his absence for a hamstring injury will end Saturday at home in an MLS match against the Colorado Rapids. “He’s back,” the team wrote in a social media post Friday. Messi has missed Inter Miami’s last four games, including one Wednesday when the club wasted a 1-0 lead and lost 2-1 to Mexico’s Monterrey in the first leg of a CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinal. Tensions boiled over after that physical game, with members of both teams — Messi included — involved in a...

By ALANIS THAMES (AP Sports Writer) FORT LAUDERDALE — Jorge Rodríguez scored the go-ahead goal in the 89th minute as Mexico’s Monterrey rallied past Inter Miami for a 2-1 win Wednesday night in the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinal. Inter Miami played the match without Lionel Messi, who was sidelined for a fourth straight game as he deals with a right hamstring injury. Messi has not played since March 13 and also missed Argentina’s exhibitions last month against El Salvador and Costa Rica. It isn’t yet clear when the 36-year-old Messi will return. The teams are scheduled to play the...

FORT LAUDERDALE — Luis Suárez scored his fifth goal of the season for Inter Miami and Alonso Martínez scored the first of his career for New York City FC as the clubs played to a 1-1 draw on Saturday night. Suárez staked Inter Miami to a 1-0 lead just 15 minutes into the match, scoring on a header with an assist from Julian Gressel off a set piece. Suárez has also assisted on three goals as he continues to carry the scoring load with superstar teammate Lionel Messi out for the past three weeks with a muscle injury. Suárez is tied with the Los Angeles Galaxy’s Dejan Joveljic and one behind...

FORT LAUDERDALE (AP) — Lionel Messi and Inter Miami are headed to Hong Kong. The club revealed plans Thursday for a Feb. 4 match there on its first international tour, part of its preseason before the 2024 Major League Soccer campaign. Messi and Inter Miami will face a team composed of top players from the First Division league in Hong Kong. “Hong Kong is a beautiful city with a great sports scene,” Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham said in remarks distributed by the team. “Throughout my career, I have spent a lot of time in Asia — I am so pleased to have the opportunity to bring Inter...

The Luis Suarez to Inter Miami talks are heating up and the Uruguayan star forward could sign as early as December. On Wednesday, Spanish newspaper El Pais, which has covered Suarez closely since his days with FC Barcelona, reported that a deal reuniting Suarez with his former Barcelona teammates Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba is in the works and could be finalized before the year’s end. Suarez, 36, said in a previous interview that Inter Miami officials contacted Brazilian club Gremio, where he currently plays, in July, around the time Messi, Busquets and Alba signed, but no...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Lionel Messi played the entire game on artificial turf in Inter Miami’s season finale on Saturday night, and Charlotte FC qualified for the MLS playoffs with a 1-0 victory. Messi shared the spotlight with Charlotte’s bid to qualify for the postseason on the last day of the regular season in a game that drew 66,101 at Charlotte’s 74,000-seat Bank of America Stadium. Messi, who led Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title, was the clear drawing card, and thousands in attendance were adorned in “Messi 10” jerseys. The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner as the world’s top player went...

SAO PAULO — Lionel Messi hit the post twice after he came off the bench but struggled to deliver a strong performance following his return from injury, but Argentina managed to beat Paraguay 1-0 on Thursday in a South American World Cup qualifying match. The World Cup winners picked up their third victory in three matches of the round-robin competition. The only goal of the match came in the third minute after a corner kick that found Nicolás Otamendi free from marking in the penalty box. The defender smashed the ball into the net with a left-foot volley. The 36-year-old Messi has felt...