Messi Strikes Twice in Four Minutes as Inter Miami Beats Atlanta United 3-1
For Atlanta United, the must-win matches continued at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday night, with the club needing results to improve on a 5 percent chance of making the postseason in the 2026 MLS season.
A win over Inter Miami, a team Atlanta has given trouble to in the past, would have doubled that number. The Herons, meanwhile, came in looking to reinforce their second-place standing in the East.
For the visitors, it was the usual star-studded lineup with Dayne St. Clair in net. Sergio Reguilón, Micael, Casemiro, and Gonzalo Luján made up the back four for Cristian “Kily” González. Matías Galarza, David Ayala, and Rodrigo De Paul formed the midfield behind an attacking three of Luis Suárez, Germán Berterame, and Lionel Messi.
For Atlanta United, Lucas Hoyos started in net. Tomás Jacob returned from yellow card accumulation to take his regular spot on the back line alongside Elías Báez, Paulo Díaz, and Júnior Alonso. Mauricio Amaro started in midfield with Tristan Muyumba and Giuliano Galoppo, with Aleksey Miranchuk, Miguel Almirón, and Breel Embolo up top.
Atlanta set out to deny Inter Miami on multiple fronts, frustrating Messi with a lack of service by keeping the visitors from skipping lines with their passing. Miami was held to moving the ball level to level rather than the back-to-front play that has been a hallmark of their attack.
Embolo had the first two looks of the night in the 7th minute off a fast break, the first set up by Almirón, but both went wide. Atlanta worked Báez down the left side of the attack and tried on multiple occasions to serve the ball into the Inter Miami 18. Galoppo just missed a chance combining with Jacob in the 17th minute.
Hoyos made a high claim toward the penalty spot in the 25th minute to snuff out a chance. Two minutes later, Muyumba nearly surprised St. Clair with a bicycle kick off a Jacob cross that went just wide of the near post. Just past the half hour, a set piece involving Almirón just missed its connection as well.
Inter Miami drew closer in the early 40s. Messi tried to go upper 90 at the near post on a 41st-minute free kick, but Hoyos saved and punched it away. Another transition chance ended in an uneventful corner. At that point, the shots were 5-1 in Atlanta’s favor, with Miami’s free kick the only attempt on target from either side.
As has been in Inter Miami’s DNA, it was a moment of star power that broke the deadlock. Suárez bodied up against Díaz after receiving a pass from Messi, then served a ball to Berterame, who headed home from close range in the 45th minute for another headed goal this season. Suárez collected his 11th assist, Messi his 15th. The fourth official signaled no added time, and Atlanta went into the locker room trailing.
Inter Miami was outshot 5-2 in the first half, but both of their shots were on target. Atlanta did not put any of its five on frame, and had ten touches inside the opponent’s 18-yard box with nothing to show for it.
“For me, the first half was by far one of the best of the season,” Atlanta United head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino said in Spanish. “But with teams like this, that seem to play another sport, where the goals spill out of the basket, if you don’t score, you know they’re going to put some in against you.”
Atlanta came out of the break with purpose. Almirón forced St. Clair into a save in the 52nd minute off an Embolo feed, and Jacob headed Almirón’s ensuing corner wide a minute later.
Then came two moments in a four-minute span that showed once again just how dangerous Inter Miami is and will be heading into the postseason. In the 56th minute, Messi drove down the right in transition. Cutting inside, he played a quick give-and-go with Berterame. Once inside the 18 and running away from goal, Messi sent his shot under the legs of an Atlanta defender and past Hoyos to make it 2-0.
Four minutes later, with Atlanta chasing the match, another transition opportunity from Suárez sent Messi at full sprint into the attacking third. Messi drove at Alonso, twisting the defender from shoulder to shoulder, and finished into the bottom right corner for 3-0.
“What completely changed the game was Messi’s two goals, in the 56th minute and the 60th minute,” said Martino, who coached Messi at Barcelona and with Argentina. “He’s been doing this systematically for 20 years. There’s no reason to think we were going to be able to neutralize him.”
Almirón put part of it on himself.
“When the other team has great players, you can’t waste the chances you get,” Almirón said in Spanish. “I think if I had managed to score the equalizer, maybe it would have been a different game. But unfortunately, it wasn’t.”
Rodrigo Ríos, assistant coach, told Madison Crews on 92.9 The Game that the push to get back into the match opened the door for Miami.
“I think the desire to score, tie the game, and then win the game disorganized the team a little bit,” Ríos said. “And they took advantage of that.”
The crowd of 46,686 saw Atlanta United chase the match the rest of the way. Substitute Matt Edwards rattled the right post from outside the box off an Amaro pass in the 86th minute. Two minutes later, Fafa Picault was taken down inside the penalty area by Maximiliano Falcón, who was booked on the play. Picault sent the spot kick to St. Clair’s left in the 89th minute for the Five Stripes’ lone goal of the night.
“Anytime you get on the score sheet, I’m happy, but I’m a competitor. I always want to win,” Picault said. “So the 3-1 just doesn’t sit well with me tonight.”
Amaro had one last look in the 98th minute, a left-footed shot off a Cooper Sanchez feed that St. Clair saved.
The loss leaves Atlanta United (8-16-6, 30 points) six points back of a play-in spot with four matches left in the regular season, and it reinforced why Inter Miami remains a favorite to repeat as MLS Cup champions.
For Martino, the number that has defined the season is the one in the goals column. Atlanta is one of the two lowest-scoring teams in the league, and he called it a team problem, not a No. 9 problem.
“We’re missing a lot of conviction to go and score goals,” Martino said. “Having a team with players who say, I’m going to go score on you, and then go do it. We don’t have that.”
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