Tristan Muyumba and Brooks Lennon each scored first-half goals as Atlanta United also took advantage of an own goal to earn an impressive 5-2 victory Saturday over victory Inter Miami, who were without Lionel Messi. Despite the loss, Leonardo Campana's sombrero flick to goal combination in the first half to open the scoring was an absolute masterclass. Check it out below.
LEO. CAMPANA.
Inter Miami coach Gerardo "Tata" Martino confirmed Friday that star forward Lionel Messi will miss Sunday's match at Orlando City as he deals with a scar tissue issue from an injury with the Argentina national team.
Messi, 36, and defender Jordi Alba did not practice Friday after they both exited in the first half of Wednesday's 4-0 win over visiting Toronto FC due to what Martino called muscle fatigue.
Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba departed with apparent injuries during what might have been a costly 4-0 win for Inter Miami over visiting Toronto FC on Wednesday.
— SportsGrid (@SportsGrid) September 21, 2023
Lionel Messi reappeared for Inter Miami in training on Monday, Sept. 19 after playing (and scoring an outrageous free kick against Ecuador) for Argentina in the international break and one small new detail about the No. 10 has fans thinking we might already know who’s winning the upcoming 2023 Ballon d’Or.
Inter Miami travel to Atlanta for their second league meeting of the season against the United on Saturday.
Lionel Messi has been involved in 16 Miami goals in 11 games across all competitions since debuting with the club on July 21. Messi has 11 goals and five assists in that span.
But he won't be playing in the match, multiple media outlets reported. Coming off of duty with Argentina's national team, Messi did not make the trip to Atlanta.
Reason: Fatigue
Lionel Messi speaking English in a press conference is something that fans are unlikely to ever hear in real life. AI (artificial intelligence) has given us a glimpse to what it would look like if the Argentine superstar did speak English fluently.
Argentinian AI creator Javi Fernandez used AI to generate Messi speaking English during one of his recent press conferences.
A former professional soccer player is now the placekicker for America’s football team, the Dallas Cowboys. Brandon Aubrey, 28, was a first round draft in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft for Toronto FC and made his NFL debut on Sunday.
Aubrey played college soccer at Notre Dame as a defender from 2013 through 2016 and was the 21st pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft. Other notable names in the first round of that draft include USMNT players Miles Robinson, Jackson Yueill and Julian Gressel.
The new Lionel Messi mansion in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, cost the Inter Miami superstar $10.75 million as he and his family will now have waterfront property.
Messi’s new 10,500-square-foot headquarters has plenty of luxuries including eight bedrooms, nine and a half bathrooms, a pool, a three-car garage, two boat docks, a gym and a 1,600-square-foot bedroom.
Messi, his wife Antonel Roccuzzo and their three sons have quite the new house to call home.
Major League Soccer has become synonym to having some of the biggest soccer stars in the world and the list of their most valuable players shows just how much the league has grown in value over the past decades.
Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi was recently nominated for the 2023 Ballon d’Or and his nomination for the prestigious France Football award puts him beside only one other MLS player nominated while active in the league. So, who is on the list of MLS players nominated for the Ballon d'Or in the past?