FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Lionel Messi’s first appearance in the Major League Soccer postseason ended with a first-round exit. A historic season for Inter Miami ended in a historic upset.
Messi scored his first postseason goal with a header in the 65th minute to tie the match at 2, but Inter Miami suffered a 3-2 loss in the deciding third game of their first-round series on Saturday night at Chase Stadium.
Atlanta United’s Bartosz Slisz scored a flying header in the 76th minute, and Jamal Thiaré scored twice in the first half to help the No. 9 seed in the MLS Eastern Conference pull off the upset over Messi and No. 1 Inter Miami.
The Messi experience in Major League Soccer and the United States has come to an end in 2024. Messi, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner and Argentine World Cup champion, was able to win his second straight Copa America with Argentina this summer. He is one of five finalists for MLS MVP this season. But Inter Miami has no MLS Cup title to show for the best regular season in league history.
“It is not a success when you are eliminated,” Inter Miami coach Tata Martino said. “If you think about where we were in November last year, obviously there has been progress in terms of the club, not just the team. If you think about the expectations we had for this playoff, obviously we have fallen too short.”
Messi entered the playoffs at full strength with two hat tricks, one with Argentina and one in Inter Miami’s season finale, after his Copa America ankle injury sidelined him for two months. But he was restricted to just a goal and an assist in the first three MLS playoff games of his career.
Messi joined Inter Miami in July 2023, and helped the club win the Leagues Cup just seven games into his tenure. Along with fellow former FC Barcelona greats Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, Inter Miami set a league record with 74 points this season to win the MLS Supporters’ Shield.
Inter Miami was invited to the FIFA Club World Cup hosted in the United States next summer as the host club, thanks to their regular-season title. But Messi’s quest to help Inter Miami win its third title, and the 47th for club and country in his illustrious career, fell short.
“The expectation is to win and move on. And when that doesn’t happen, it hurts pretty bad. I think that’s what we are experiencing right now,” Inter Miami goalie Drake Callender said.
The 34-point difference between Inter Miami and Atlanta (40) was the largest between two clubs facing each other in the postseason in MLS history.
Atlanta was one of four teams to beat Inter Miami all year in league play. They added two more wins over them in the postseason. Inter Miami beat Atlanta once all year in five games, and it was Game 1 of this series.
Inter Miami leads MLS with a $41.68 million payroll, with Messi the highest-paid player at $20.4 million. They also led the league with 78 goals and were second with a goal differential of +30 this season.
Atlanta scored 45 goals all season, but outscored Inter Miami 6-5 in their playoff series with a $15.2 million payroll – 23rd of 29 teams.
Led by interim coach Rob Valentino, Atlanta sneaked into the playoffs on the final day of the regular season. They beat Montreal in the Eastern Conference Wild Card game to face Inter Miami. Now, they’ve eliminated the favorites to win MLS Cup.
Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank celebrated the win in an on-field suite, while his players move on to the Eastern Conference semifinals against Orlando City.
Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan was arguably the best player through the first round of the playoffs. He was a fortress in front of the net, finishing with 17 saves in three games against Inter Miami.
Matias Rojas scored in the 17th minute for Inter Miami, while a goal by Diego Gomez in the 23rd minute was disallowed because he was offside.
“Their goalkeeper has been spectacular in every game, and I think that was the difference,” said Alba, whose header was deflected by Guzan’s left hand in the 53rd minute at the goal line.
Inter Miami’s advancement was far from a sure thing. All three clubs hosting Game 3s on the final day of the first round lost at home and were eliminated. Other top seeds in the MLS Cup playoffs also faced some trouble in the first round.
No. 2 Columbus – the defending MLS Cup champions – had their season end a week ago, eliminated by the No. 7 New York Red Bulls.
Both No. 3 seeds were eliminated: Cincinnati was toppled by No. 6 New York City FC in a penalty shootout during their Game 3 match earlier Saturday; Real Salt Lake fell to Minnesota with shootouts in both games of their series.
LAFC, the top seed in the West, beat No. 8 Vancouver 1-0 in Game 3 to advance on Friday night.
The MLS playoffs will continue when the conference semifinals begin on Nov. 29-30 … but without Messi.
He’ll play his final two games of the year helping Argentina qualify for the next World Cup: Argentina visits Paraguay on Nov. 14, and hosts Peru in Buenos Aires on Nov. 19.
Messi, 37, is under contract with Inter Miami through the 2025 season. Expectations will be high again for the club next year.
“You can look back and say, ‘You had a great year.’ But at the end of the day, the MLS Cup is the MLS Cup, and this was the step we needed to take to get there. We weren’t able to get there,” Callender said.
Follow along here as USA TODAY Sports provides live updates from the Inter Miami-Atlanta match:
Atlanta has retaken the lead after Bartosz Slisz’s flying header in the 76th minute. Messi and Inter Miami are on the brink of elimination again.
Lionel Messi has found the back of the net with a header, thanks to an assist from Marcelo Weigandt in the 65th minute. It’s Messi’s first goal in the MLS Cup Playoffs, and it comes at an opportune time to help Inter Miami tie this match at 2.
Nothing resulted of the post-goal scrimmage after Inter Miami’s Leo Campana pushed Atlanta goalie Brad Guzan into the net. It appeared Guzan was preventing Inter Miami from getting the ball back into play after the goal.
Jordi Alba put his hands on his head in disbelief. Atlanta goalie Brad Guzan saved Alba’s header with his left hand, keeping this match at 2-1 in the 53rd minute.
Alba received a beautiful pass from Messi directly in front of the net, but Guzan has been a fortress in front of the net during this series.
Messi winded up for a left boot in the 49th minute, but his shot was deflected by a defender as the second half is well underway.
Luis Suarez took flight, rising up in the air for a bicycle kick, but his shot was blocked by Atlanta goalie Brad Guzan in stoppage time before halftime.
Messi tried to score on a header into the box, but was unable to get all of the ball on his attempt. Diego Gomez tried to score the rebound, but his shot was deflected. Inter Miami’s David Martinez also missed a header wide left after Jordi Alba’s corner kick.
Messi lined up for a free kick into the penalty area, but Luis Suarez was unable to connect with his header in the 39th minute.
Messi misses his second shot of the match, blocked again by Atlanta’s Brad Guzan in the 3 minute. He still remains scoreless in the MLS Cup playoffs.
Inter Miami nearly had a penalty, but replays showed Luis Suarez was not touched by Atlanta goalie Brad Guzan in what initially looked like a near collision.
It appeared Inter Miami’s Diego Gomez tied the match with a goal in the 2 minute, but VAR showed Gomez was offside when he received an outlet pass by Luis Suarez. It’s an opportunity Inter Miami missed to tie the match.
Jamal Thiaré again for Atlanta. This time his kick grazed off the head of Inter Miami goalie Drake Callender to give Atlanta a 2-1 lead in the 20th minute. It’s two goals in two minutes for Thiaré, who hit the left post in the 15th minute before going on a scoring run.
Two minutes after Inter Miami took the lead, Atlanta United stormed back. Jamal Thiaré scored a right boot past Inter Miami goalie Drake Callender in the 19th minute to tie this match at 1.
Lionel Messi fired a shot toward the net, which was blocked by Atlanta goalie Brad Guzan. But Inter Miami’s Matias Rojas was in the right place at the right time, scoring the rebound in the 17 minute.
Atlanta missed a prime opportunity to take a 1-0 lead when Jamal Thiaré missed his shot off the left post while charging toward the net. Inter Miami goalie Drake Callender was able to recover the ball after the miss.
Inter Miami’s Luis Suarez and Atlanta goalie Brad Guzan each rose in the air for a jump ball near the net in the 10 minute, but the ball went out of bounds.
Inter Miami’s Federico Redondo takes the first shot of the game, and misses high in the 3rd minute. Inter Miami’s Jordi Alba also fired a shot toward the net, caught by Atlanta goalie Brad Guzan.
The match is available to stream here: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
Yes, Messi is expected to start and captain Inter Miami in Saturday’s decisive playoff game.
Inter Miami’s Sergio Busquets, the legendary midfielder who plays centerback at times, is on the bench to start this match. He was medically cleared Friday after dealing with pneumonia-like symptoms for the last two weeks, missing two games.
Inter Miami will also start Benjamin Cremaschi, Matias Rojas and Diego Gomez in the midfield with rookie midfielder Yannick Bright out.
Here are the BETMGM moneyline odds: Inter Miami (-275); Atlanta (+575); Draw after regulation (+425). The over/under is set at 3.5 goals.
New York City FC beat FC Cincinnati 0-0 (6-5 in penalty kicks) in their Game 3 matchup on Saturday. NYCFC will face New York Red Bulls in the conference semifinals.
The match between No. 1 seed Inter Miami and No. 9 Atlanta is the final match in a playoff tripleheader between Eastern Conference teams on Saturday.
No. 4 Orlando City will face No. 5 Charlotte at 6 p.m. in the second match, also available on Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass.
LAFC, the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, advanced past No. 8 Vancouver with a 1-0 win in Game 3 to end their first-round series on Friday night.
The Western Conference semifinals are set: No. 1 LAFC faces No. 4 Seattle, while No. 2 L.A. Galaxy faces No. 6 Minnesota.
The Eastern Conference semifinals will be set on Saturday night.
No. 7 New York Red Bulls – which eliminated reigning MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew – awaits the winner between Cincinnati and NYCFC.
The Inter Miami-Atlanta winner will face the Orlando City-Charlotte winner.
Messi has been called up by the Argentine national team for two matches next week: Argentina visits Paraguay on Nov. 14, and hosts Peru in Buenos Aires on Nov. 19.
The matches are for World Cup 2026 qualifying during a FIFA international window between the first round and the conference semifinals of the MLS Cup Playoffs.
The conference semifinals are Nov. 23-24. The conference finals will be played Nov. 30-Dec. 1. And the MLS Cup final is Dec. 7.
