Lionel Messi celebrates his goals with superhero poses and this week launched a Captain Messi action figure toy.
Fresh off back-to-back hat tricks for country and club, on a beautiful, balmy Friday night, Inter Miami captain Messi was poised to be a hero in his first MLS playoff game against Atlanta United. But it was his close friends and former FC Barcelona teammates Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba who provided the goals in a 2-1 win in Game One of the MLS Playoffs.
With the victory, Miami’s first playoff win in franchise history, the men in pink took a one game lead in the best-of-three first-round series. The teams play again Nov. 2 in Atlanta.
The post-game celebration was muted because Inter Miami players and staff were gutted seeing center back Ian Fray leave the stadium on crutches and in tears after suffering an apparent fourth knee injury. The Coconut Creek native had come back this season after three ACL surgeries.
“Beating Atlanta for the first time this year was important and it came at a good time, but we leave this game a little sad, and not as satisfied, because of Ian’s injury,” said coach Tata Martino, who added that he didn’t want to speculate on the severity of the injury before Fray undergoes testing.
Otherwise, Martino was pleased with the result. He said he liked that his team did not give up early goals, did not lose the ball in transition as much as it had in other games, and remained patient an in control for the majority of the match. Were it not for eight saves by Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan, Miami likely would have won by more, Martino said.
Suarez got things going two minutes into the game, tapping it past Guzan with an assist from Paraguayan midfielder Diego Gomez. Miami remained in control the rest of the first half and nearly scored several times, with shots by Messi and David Martinez clanking off the post, and another by Marcelo Weigandt saved by Guzan.
Atlanta equalized 1-1 in the 39th minute on a goal by a poorly-marked Saba Lobjanidze, the Georgian midfielder who has given Miami fits all season. He scored twice in a 3-1 win against Inter Miami in May and also scored in a 2-2 tie against Miami in September.
The game remained knotted at halftime, despite Inter Miami dominating possession 68 percent to 32 percent and taking 13 shots, six on frame, compared to three shots and one on frame from Atlanta.
Messi and Suarez, proving they’ve still got it at age 37, combined for 40 goals and 25 assists during the regular season. Messi scored 20 goals and had 16 assists in 19 games. Despite missing 15 games, he finished tied for second in the Golden Boot race along with Suarez, who had 20 goals and nine assists in 27 games.
Messi added to his assist total on Friday, feeding Alba for a perfectly-executed play that began with a short Messi corner kick to the other Barcelona alum Sergio Busquets, who played it back to Messi, who passed to Alba, who cranked the ball with his left foot into the bottom right corner in the 60th minute.
Martino heaped praise on Alba afterward, comparing him to legendary outside backs Dani Alves, Cafu, Roberto Carlos, and Marcelo.
“It is very difficult to find outside backs who contribute so much in attack and are so decisive,” Martino said. “His level of technique is very rare to see in an outside back and it is even more valuable because of his connection with Leo (Messi) and Luis (Suarez) and how they find each other.”
A day earlier, Alba spoke with reporters about the telepathy he shares with Messi after so many years as teammates. “With just a look, we know where each other are going to be,” he said. “It is great to be playing with him again, and with Luis and Sergio.”
Joining Messi and Suarez in the starting lineup were goalkeeper Drake Callender; center backs Tomas Aviles and Martinez; left back Alba; right back Weigandt; midfielders Fede Redondo, Sergio Busquets, Gomez, and Bright.
Martino said Bright, the rookie from University of New Hampshire, continues to impress and has become an invaluable part of the lineup. In fact, he moved Busquets to the back line to make room for Bright.
“Yannick being out there speaks to how he has transformed into a legitimate starter and key player,” Martino said, crediting sporting director Chris Henderson and the scouting staff for finding Bright.
Benja Cremaschi and Fray came off the bench, and Noah Allen came in later to replace injured Fray.
In addition to Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham, among the other celebrities scheduled to be in the crowd were actors Brendan Hunt and Cristo Fernandez of the Ted Lasso series, football stars Odell Beckham, Jr., and Chad Ochocinco, Puerto Rican music star Tainy, and English actor/rapper Idris Elba.
Miami entered the playoffs as the top seed and Supporters’ Shield winner after posting 74 points, the highest total in MLS history, on 22 wins, four losses and eight ties.
Atlanta squeaked in, earning a spot in the Eastern Conference wild card game with the ninth and final slot and beat CF Montreal in a thrilling match Tuesday night that came down to a penalty-kick shootout.
Although Miami was the heavy favorite on Friday night, Messi and his teammates had not beaten Atlanta in their first two meetings this season.
Inter Miami lost only four of 34 games this season and one of them was to Atlanta United, 3-1 on May 29. That was the last time Miami lost at home.
The teams met a second time in Atlanta on Sept. 18 and Inter Miami, with a makeshift lineup and its stars coming in late off the bench, left the field gutted after settling for a 2-2 tie.
Friday night, they finally notched a win against Atlanta. But Fray’s injury was on teammates’ minds as they left the locker room.
“In my point of view, there’s things more important than a game, and obviously seeing a friend go down is not easy,” Bright said. “We haven’t been able to celebrate as much as we wanted.”
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