Inter Miami beat Cincinnati on penalties in a crazy outcome and reached the second final of the last week. Lionel Messi didn’t score for the club for the first time, but he provided two assists and unsurprisingly became man of the match again. As well as in all the previous games in the United States, in which he participated after the change of summer.
fake images
The Argentine has ten goals and three assists in eight games with Inter Miami. Great stats. Of course, each match ended with the victory of his team, however, for this they had to take a penalty three times. On each occasion, the 36-year-old striker converted his shot from the penalty spot.
The Florida team started the game against Cincinnati badly: they conceded the first goal after a somewhat stupid rebound. After the break, the favorite conceded again after a great shot from the area. Leo’s first defeat in America began to loom on the horizon. In addition, the situation on the field did not change anymore: Inter was closer to losing for the third time than to recovering.
fake images
But from the middle of the second half, Messi took the matter seriously. First, Leonardo Campana converted his free kick into a goal. But all this would not matter if it were not for the VAR, which successfully disallowed Cincinnati’s goal, by the way, already the second of the game. However, the southerners still needed at least one more goal, because they were still trailing in the long run.
fake images
And then Leo came back to the fore. The Argentine made another brilliant, if not ingenious, cross into the box. Josef Martínez could only redirect the projectile towards the goal. It is curious that in extra time the clubs exchanged goals, but this time Inter Miami failed to maintain the advantage. But in the penalty shootout, Messi’s team was once again more precise than their rival, scoring all five, while the rival missed once.
fake images
The next success of Inter Miami, led by Messi, has not surprised anyone for a long time. The worst team in MLS before the arrival of the Argentine could not even dream of something like that, but now the situation has turned 180 degrees. In the final, Messi will face the Houston Dynamo, but there is still a long way to go before this game: a whole month.