Lionel Messi scored a pair of goals to give Inter Miami enough offense to outlast New England and secure a 2-1 victory over the host Revolution on Wednesday night at Foxborough, Mass.
Inter Miami (10-3-5, 35 points) won its second consecutive match and moved up to fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings. New England (6-8-6, 24 points) lost its second in a row and is winless in its past five matches.
Messi followed up his impressive performance in a 4-1 victory last Saturday against Montreal, and has four goals and an assist since the team resumed MLS league play following a Round of 16 finish on June 29 in the FIFA Club World Cup.
He became the first player in league history to score multiple goals in four consecutive MLS contests, all wins. Messi increased his total goals for the season to 14 and scored his 19th and 20th goals across all competitions this season.
The second, which proved to be the decisive goal, came in the 38th minute on a beautiful assist from Sergio Busquets. As Busquets advanced the ball just past midfield, he fired a ball beyond two New England defenders and to Messi in stride. Messi ran the ball down and fired a precise shot just inside the far post and past the outstretched reach of Revolution goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic.
New England sliced Miami’s lead in half in the 79th minute when Carles Gil controlled a ball at the top of the box and ripped a shot past Miami keeper Oscar Ustari.
Ustari and Miami’s defense, however, stood its ground over the final 11 minutes plus five minutes of stoppage time to secure the valuable three points.
New England outshot Miami 6-3 on shots on goal and 16-13 overall, but Miami made its best chances count.
Messi, who trails only Nashville’s Sam Surridge (16 goals) on the MLS scoring leaderboard after Wednesday night’s games, struck for his first goal in the 27th minute. After a failed clearance attempt inside the Revolution’s own box, Messi surged in and intercepted a lateral header and fired a shot past Ivacic before he could recover to put Miami ahead 1-0.
New England remains in 11th place in the East and next travels to face Austin on Saturday night while Miami returns home to face Nashville SC on Saturday night.
–Field Level Media
