3/14/2024–|Last updated: 3/14/202404:43 PM (Mecca time)
Argentine star Lionel Messi and his Uruguayan colleague Luis Suarez led their American team, Inter Miami, to the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Champions League, after defeating its guest and compatriot Nashville 3-1 in the second leg of the quarter-finals yesterday, Wednesday.
Messi, the eight-time best player in the world, set up Suarez’s first goal in the eighth minute, before Messi himself added the second (23).
Messi left in the 50th minute due to injury and Finnish Robert Taylor replaced him to score the third (63), before Englishman Sam Surridge reduced the gap for the visitors (90+3).
The first leg – last Thursday – ended in a 2-2 draw, with Messi scoring the first goal and Suarez the second.
What a finish from Lionel Messi 🔥
The GOAT sends Inter Miami to the #ConcacafChampionsCup Quarter Finals pic.twitter.com/rlNbLeubnv
— New Sheriff⚓ (@NewsheriffUtd) March 14, 2024
Argentine coach Tata Martino said that Messi’s exit was due to concern about a knee injury.
He added: “We did not want to take any risks. We tried to see if he could last longer, but the injury was bothering him and we preferred to take him out.”
He continued: “I think he will not be ready to play Saturday’s match (against DC United in the league).”
The 2022 World Cup champion missed the match, which his team lost at home to Montreal 3-2 on Sunday in the American League, to rest.
Inter Miami, which is participating for the first time in the competition, will play with the winner of the return match between Mexico’s Monterrey and its American guest, FC Cincinnati, after the Mexican team won with a clean goal in the first leg.
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