Messi’s double fires Inter Miami to 3-1 victory over Atlanta United

Lionel Messi scored two goals in just four minutes to inspire Inter Miami to a 3-1 victory over Atlanta United on Saturday, strengthening the club’s push to defend their Major League Soccer (MLS) title as the playoffs draw closer.

The 39-year-old Argentine superstar continues to lead the MLS scoring chart with 25 goals this season.

He is six goals ahead of Croatian striker Petar Musa of FC Dallas and Milan Iloski of Philadelphia.

Messi produced another outstanding performance at the same stadium in Atlanta where he had previously helped Argentina defeat England in the World Cup semi-finals in July.

His two brilliant goals proved decisive as Inter Miami secured their third consecutive victory, further boosting their confidence ahead of the MLS playoffs.

German Berterame, who put Miami up 1-0 in the 45th minute, turned provider, finding Messi who weaved through the Atlanta defense to unleash a left footed shot from the center 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 halftime, 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, that 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 at second-from-bottom in the Eastern Conference Gerardo Martino’s team are running out of time to turn things around in time to 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 with Charlotte.

Canadian Marcus Caldeira scored the game winner for Minnesota in the 86th minute after United fell behind early on St. Louis goals by Brazilian forward Rafael Navarro and South Korean winger Jeong Sang-bin.

Aziel Jackson answered for Minnesota in the 49th minute and Kelvin Yeboah netted the equalizer 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 drawn in the run.

Philadelphia had won eight MLS matches in a row before the fightback 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.

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