Kind courtesy of Lionel Messi, Inter Miami advanced to the CONCACAF Champions Cup final 16 with a 3-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Tuesday, winning the match 4-1 overall. In the week leading up to this match, Messi had scored in the 1-0 first-leg victory in freezing Kansas City, and it took him just 19 minutes to find the target at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
Luis Suarez, Messi’s old Barcelona teammate, chipped the ball to the Argentine, who punished the Sporting defense by burying it in the bottom corner after they gave him too much room.
When Dejan Joveljic, a new acquisition from the Los Angeles Galaxy, rounded Miami goalkeeper Oscar Ustari and had the ball in the net, the visitors believed they had tied the score, but the striker was declared offside.
In the opening minute of first-half stoppage time, Messi sent Jordi Alba down the left, and Tadeo Allende turned in the Spaniard’s low cross from close range to give Miami a two-goal lead.
Two minutes later, a terrible miskicked clearance from Jacob Davis sailed across his own area, and Suarez hooked the rebounding ball into the corner to give Miami a 3-0 night and 4-0 aggregate lead.
Memo Rodriguez’s long-range shot missed Maximiliano Falcon’s back and went past the uncoordinated Ustari to give Kansas City a goal in the 63rd minute.
The first leg of Miami’s upcoming game with the Caribbean Cup champion Jamaican club Cavalier will take place in Florida during the first week of March 2025.
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