As of right now, Lionel Messi has netted five goals for Miami while playing in the Leagues Cup.
Lionel Messi is showing no signs of slowing down.
At DVR PNK Stadium on Wednesday night, Messi’s reign as the most dominant player in Major League Soccer continues. In the Round of 32 of the Leagues Cup, played in Fort Lauderdale, Messi led Inter Miami to a 3-1 victory over Orlando City SC, scoring twice to lead the way.
Since joining Miami and the MLS, he has already scored five goals in just three matches, which has propelled him to the position of leading goalscorer in the Leagues Cup.
Messi set the tone for the rest of the evening almost immediately. Messi scored the game’s first goal in the seventh minute of play, after the game had been delayed due to rain for approximately 90 minutes. It was as easy as tapping the ball once with his chest to score the goal that put his team up 1-0. He caught a pass from Robert Taylor in the middle of the penalty area that was as easy as a dime.
Although it was great for him to score his fourth goal in Miami, the lead did not hold for very long.
César Arajo of Orlando tied the game with a goal in the 16th minute that was assisted by a deflection inside the penalty area. After making a tackle on Wilder Cartagena a few minutes later, Messi was shown a yellow card for the first time since joining the club.
Messi had a few opportunities to put Orlando ahead later in the first half, but he was unable to capitalize, and Orlando goalkeeper Pedro Gallese made a spectacular save late in the half to keep the score knotted at 1-1 going into the interval.
when that, Miami scored very fast in the second half when a foul was called on Josef Martinez inside the box. Martinez took the penalty kick and nailed it from the spot, which placed Miami in the driver’s seat once again.
After then, Messi scored once more in the 71st minute, thus putting an end to any chance of a comeback.
Another goal was scored by Messi after he collected a chip pass in front of the net that was delivered by Martinez. Martinez had earlier handled an unbelievable pass delivered by Taylor.
After that, Miami was able to pull off the victory and advance to the round of 16 with a score of 3-1.
Since his move to Miami a little under a month ago, Messi has now scored five goals for the club. After making his debut with the club in their inaugural Leagues Cup game against Cruz Azul, in which he scored the game-winning goal in stoppage time, he followed that up by scoring twice in only 22 minutes against Atlanta United the week before. In the Leagues Cup, he has scored the most goals and is only one assist shy of taking the lead in the area of most assists.
Because of these two victories, Miami advanced to the knockout stage of the Leagues Cup, which set up their match versus Orlando for the following Wednesday.
With the victory, Miami will move on to the next round where they will play FC Dallas, who won their Round of 32 encounter earlier on Wednesday night against Mazatlan FC by a score of 2-1.Both Alan Velasco and Eugene Anash scored goals for Dallas, which led to the team’s victory. After earning a victory on penalty kicks against Houston Dynamo and then claiming victory over Santos Laguna, Orlando City advanced to the knockout stage of the competition.
Despite the fact that Miami has the lowest record in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, Lionel Messi has had a significant impact on the club. Since he’s been there, they haven’t had a single loss, and nobody seemed to be able to stop him. On Monday, the next opportunity will be presented to Dallas in Texas.
Here on Yahoo Sports, you can follow all of the action from the Inter Miami vs. Orlando City match: