Party at Chase Stadium on October 19 in the final game of the regular season, with a hat-trick from Lionel Messi, despite not coming on as a substitute, in a game in which Inter Miami FC managed to set a new MLS points record with 74, after achieving a great 6-2 victory against the New England Revolution, coming from behind.
The Revolution had the previous record with 73 points and resisted giving it up by scoring the first two goals of the match, but could not withstand the push.
Messi’s display was ridiculous, scoring three goals (78”, 81′,89′) in just 35 minutes, stealing the show from Luis Suarez who scored a double (40′,43′) and two assists, and Benjamin Cremaschi who scored the third (58′).
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With his hat trick, Messi became the Miami team’s all-time leading scorer with 33, surpassing Leonardo Campana who had 32. He also tied Suarez as the top scorer this season with 20.
“I think that after Leo’s serious injury, we had to be careful and I think we were and we nurtured each other,” said coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino. “He was loose against Bolivia and today the first ball he touched ended in a goal. Now we have him in an ideal situation to face this important part of the season.”
It was a great game for Inter, despite two defensive errors, who came from behind to beat New England after having outplayed them in every way.
“Overall, the team was very reliable, very accurate in terms of results, and as for the Club World Cup, I can tell you that when the possibility of a place for an MLS team arose, we thought about earning our place and today it has been confirmed.”
Inter will open the playoffs at home on October 25 against the winner of the play-in between Montreal and Atlanta, who took the 8th and 9th spots respectively.
Martino, true to his statements, made some changes to the starting eleven, although he kept the base with a classic 4-3-3 with Drake Callender, Chelo Weigandt, Tomas Aviles, David Martinez, Jordi Alba, Jannick Bright, Sergio Busquets, Benjamin Cremaschi, Julian Gressel, Luis Suarez and Robert Taylor.
In the end, Inter celebrated with their fans after winning the Supporters’ Shield. “David Jose [Mas] and I made two promises: ‘When we talk about football, we talk about Inter Miami,’ and second, that we were going to lift trophies,’ and this is the second one we lifted,” said owner Jorge Mas.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino and co-owner David Beckham then congratulated the team and fans, in particular La Familia, whose representatives had the honor of bringing the Supporters’ Shield trophy to be presented by Jorge Mas, and Beckham to captains Leo Messi, Sergio Busquets, and Drake Callender.
The symbolic act ended when the captains raised the trophy together with the team.
The first half ended 2-2 after Suarez made up for the two serious defensive errors of the Miami team with two great goals. The team was actually superior in the first 45 minutes, with greater dominance (73.2%) and more shots on goal 14-4 (4-2 on target), practically subduing its rival.
Right at the start of the match, at minute and 13 seconds, the Revolution made it 1-0 when Luca Langoni got behind Martinez and was lucky that when Toto Aviles crossed, the ball bounced off his feet and he shot past Drake with his right foot, one meter from the goal.
Although they only had 4 shots on goal, Inter were the masters of the match (72% possession), pushing New England into their area for the first 30 minutes.
But the goal fell again on New England’s side when Dylan Borrero stole the show from Luis Suarez in the 34th minute, scoring from the right from the center of the area with a soft shot under Callender’s legs after receiving the ball from Alhassan Yusuf.
But Suarez raised his hand and scored Inter’s first, finishing off a great assist from David Martinez from the left after a great slalom with his left foot, to cut the deficit to 2-1 for Miami.
And three minutes later (43′) after receiving from Yannick Bright, he advanced and after feinting a shot, cut back to the center and took a well-placed right-footed shot to the left of the goalkeeper to equalize for Inter 2-2.
Martino’s team kept trying in the final minutes, but there was no more and both teams went into the break with the score tied.
Messi got up to warm up as soon as the second half began and Chase Stadium erupted in joy. And in the 55th minute, while Leo was preparing to come on for Gressel and Diego Gomez for Tylenol, Suarez missed the third.
Messi came on at 57 and 10 seconds after entering he chipped the ball to Alba who gave the pass to Cremaschi who was coming in from behind, so that he could score from point-blank range to give the Miami eleven the lead, leaving the stands chanting his name.
In the 66th minute, Messi tried a shot from outside the area that NE goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic deflected for a corner, and in the 70th minute, the Miami team was saved when the referee, at the request of the VAR, disallowed the goal that Bobby Wood had scored with the help of his hand, despite the fact that it was stuck to his body.
And the masterpiece of the match came in the 78th minute, with the first from Messi, who after a series of one-twos with Suarez, went inside and unleashed a left-footed cross-shot with great power and placement to put the score at 4-2.
Then at 82′ Leo received a great through ball from Alba at the entrance to the area and with his left foot he made it 5-2 on the scoreboard.
But that was not all. Messi completed his hat trick in the 89th minute by heading home a bicycle kick from Suarez to make the final score 6-2.
