Messi scores a stunning double, sets championship record with Inter Miami

Messi scored a brace in just the last 5 minutes of the first half, after a classy move in the 44th minute and a fantastic free kick in the 45+4th minute. But he and his Inter Miami teammates endured many suffocating situations before the rise of their opponents Columbus Crew in the second half, and had to rely on Suarez's goal to secure the victory.

Messi scores twice to help Inter Miami beat Columbus Crew to win Supporters' Shield

With the importance of the match, both teams played extremely fiercely. Inter Miami's attacking trio of Messi, Suarez and Diego Gomez worked extremely hard against the pressure and tight play of the Columbus Crew players.

The first half of the match was tense from the start, both teams had their opening goals, but both were disallowed for offside. For Columbus Crew, Cucho Hernandez's goal was disallowed in the 7th minute. Meanwhile, Inter Miami regretted the situation when Messi crossed the ball for Marcelo Weigandt to head in at the 25th minute, but the linesman raised his flag for offside, which was controversial. VAR then checked and upheld the referee's decision on the field.

Inter Miami faces difficulties against Columbus Crew

But there is Messi

The turning point of the match came at the end of the first half, in a tense match, Messi's class began to speak. The Argentinean player scored a beautiful goal after a spectacular dribble past two Columbus Crew defenders, before shooting the ball into the far corner with his left foot to score. Jordi Alba was the one who made the unexpected long pass, allowing Messi to punish the opposing defense with his superb skills.

Not stopping there, in extra time, from a free kick awarded by Suarez right in front of the penalty area, Messi executed a superb direct free kick that gave goalkeeper Schulte (Columbus Crew) no chance to block, completing a double in just 5 minutes and raising the score to 2-0 for Inter Miami.

Right at the beginning of the second half, Columbus Crew quickly reduced the score to 1-2 thanks to Diego Rossi's goal, but just 2 minutes later Suarez punished goalkeeper Schulte's mistake in the penalty area to head home to increase the score to 3-1, helping Inter Miami re-establish a 2-goal lead.

Messi has surpassed David Beckham with 66 free kick goals compared to 65

However, Columbus Crew proved to be too tough of an opponent for Inter Miami, as they once again reduced the deficit to 2-3 in the 61st minute thanks to Cucho Hernandez's penalty. However, they missed the chance to equalize the score due to being down a man shortly after, as defender Rudy Camacho was sent off in the 63rd minute.

Playing with one less man, Columbus Crew could not put pressure and play tit for tat against Inter Miami like before. Meanwhile, Inter Miami also did not take advantage of the man advantage to increase the pressure. Instead, coach Tata Martino reinforced the defense and played solidly to protect the victory.

But this was the decision that helped Columbus Crew almost find a chance to equalize the score with a penalty in the 84th minute. Luckily for Inter Miami, striker Cucho Hernandez failed to execute this time when goalkeeper Callender excellently blocked.

Messi returns to Argentina national team

Inter Miami completed the first leg of the MLS season with a thrilling 3-2 win over Columbus Crew, winning the Supporters' Shield for the first time in the club's history. Messi also increased his career title record to 46, the most of all time.

Messi's joy was doubled when he was officially called back by coach Scaloni to the Argentina national team to play in the 2026 World Cup South American qualifiers against Venezuela and Bolivia on October 11 and 16, respectively.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/messi-ghi-cu-dup-cuc-dinh-lap-ky-luc-vo-dich-cung-inter-miami-185241003090912176.htm