Updated: Apr 9, 2025, 10:44 pm
Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF are headed to the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals and it took a dramatic three-goal comeback to get there.
Messi scored twice, including a penalty kick in the 84th minute, to lift Inter Miami past LAFC 3-1 on Wednesday night -- good enough for a 3-2 aggregate win in the two-leg series. The Herons needed three unanswered goals to win the series and ensure they wouldn't lose a tiebreaker.
And for Messi, the series clincher was reminiscent of how he led Argentina past France in the World Cup final in 2022. He scored two goals in that match, one on a penalty kick -- then another in the penalty shootout that decided the final. And those goals came against France's Hugo Lloris, who was also in net for LAFC on Wednesday night.
Lloris couldn't solve Messi in the World Cup final and couldn't in this one, either. When the final whistle sounded, Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano punched the air in celebration.
Oscar Ustari made two huge stops in the final minutes for Inter Miami, who will face either Mexican club Pumas or the Vancouver Whitecaps in the semifinals. The first leg of that matchup is set to start on either April 22, 23 or 24.
Aaron Long scored in the ninth minute to give LAFC a 1-0 lead, but it put Inter Miami in a much deeper hole than that. Inter Miami lost the first leg in Los Angeles 1-0, so Long's goal not only gave LAFC a 2-0 aggregate lead, but it also gave his club control of the away-goals tiebreaker.
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That meant Inter Miami needed at least three goals from there to advance. It might have seemed unlikely.
But with Messi, all things seem possible.
Messi began the rally in the 35th minute, getting loose near the top of the 18-yard box and scoring with his left foot to tie the score at 1-1 and giving Inter Miami some hope. It was Messi's 41st goal in 48 appearances across all competitions with Inter Miami.
Noah Allen gave Inter Miami a 2-1 lead in the 61st minute on a bit of a fluke; he chipped a ball into the box, playing it toward teammate Federico Redondo. Lloris came off his line, anticipating Redondo would play the ball, but it bounced off the grass, skipped past both of them and ended up in the side of the net.
That knotted the aggregate at 2-2, but LAFC still held the away-goal tiebreaker. And in the 67th minute, Inter Miami thought it grabbed the lead in the series when Messi played a ball into the box that Luis Suarez appeared to flick into the net on a header, but the flag came up for offside, taking the goal off the board.
Inter Miami kept the pressure on throughout, then argued successfully for a handball call that was given after a VAR check and Messi converted the spot kick to give his team a 3-1 lead and a berth in the semifinals.
