Inter Miami has been surprisingly knocked out of the MLS play-offs at an early stage. Lionel Messi’s team lost to Atlanta United in the third game and missed out on the quarter-finals.
The situation before the third playoff game between Miami and Atlanta was clear: only the winner would go through to the next round and dream of the title. Lionel Messi and Co. had the home advantage, but did not use it. The 3-2 defeat means that hopes of winning the first championship in the club’s young history have been abruptly ended – despite what is probably the largest budget of any MLS club. “The players are sad, as they should be when there are so many expectations and the team cannot meet them,” emphasized head coach Gerardo Martino.
Miami took the lead through Matias Rojas after 17 minutes, but Jamal Thiare’s two goals in quick succession (19th and 21st) put Atlanta in the lead. In the middle of the second half, Messi rewarded his team’s efforts with a header to make it 2-2 (65th), after a brief but fierce scrum had formed in front of the goal as the home side were keen to restart the game quickly. However, the visitors kept their cool in the final phase: Bartosz Slisz headed powerfully into the goal to make the final score 3:2 (76th minute), although one of the home players had gone down in the penalty area without any contact from an opponent – which led to further discussions and protests.
In the end, however, Miami’s play-off hopes were dashed, partly because Atlanta’s keeper Brad Guzan made some great saves and partly because Messi put two free kicks into the wall in the final phase. The Argentine world champion did not want to comment after the game.
“The season had good and bad sides. In this last part of the year, we got used to achieving our goals, but we couldn’t achieve the most important thing,” Martino said, alluding to his team’s record of 74 points in the regular season.
Atlanta, who only made the play-offs after beating Montreal in the play-offs, will face Orlando City in the quarter-finals. In the other duels, L.A. Galaxy with Marco Reus will face Minnesota United, city rivals Los Angeles FC will play against the Seattle Sounders, and in New York there will be a city derby between NYCFC and the Red Bulls.