Lionel Messi and Inter Miami win MLS Supporters Shield with 3-2 win at Crew. It is Messi’s 46th trophy

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Lionel Messi and Inter Miami have another trophy and home-field advantage in the Major League Soccer playoffs.

Messi scored two goals in the final minutes of the first half. Goalkeeper Drake Callender stopped a penalty in the 84th minute and Inter Miami defeated the reigning MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew 3-2 on Wednesday evening to secure the Supporters Shield, which is awarded annually to the team with the best record in the regular season.

It was Messi’s 46th major trophy won for a club or country, making it the highest record of any men’s soccer player in history. And it is the second victory he has won with Inter Miami. This Supporters Shield was added to the League Cup trophy which the Herons won shortly after Messi joined the club in 2023.

“We knew this was a group that could fight for it,” Messi said.

Luis Suarez also scored for Inter Miami, which will open a best-of-three first-round playoff series on the last weekend of October. If the team wins that series, it would have the right to host any game it plays for the rest of the season – an Eastern Conference semifinal (scheduled for Nov. 23 or 24), the East final (Nov. 30 or December 1st). and the MLS Cup final on December 7th.

“We have a beautiful opportunity to go down in history… and now we think about what’s to come,” Messi told Apple TV after the game. “We have the great advantage of playing all the games at home and that was exactly what we wanted. I think we are very, very strong at home.”

Also still within reach for Inter Miami: the best MLS regular season mark of all time. Wednesday’s win increased Inter Miami’s record to 20-4-8 this season, which is 68 points. If the club wins its final two games – Saturday in Toronto and Oct. 19 at home against New England – it would finish with 74 points.

New England holds the single-season points record in 2021 with 73.

Messi opened the scoring In the 45th minute, he took a long pass from Jordi Alba – his long-time teammate at Barcelona, ​​with whom Messi won 35 of his trophies – and split two defenders before somehow firing the ball past Columbus goalkeeper Patrick Schulte to make it 1: 0 lead brought .

And about five minutes into stoppage time in the first half, Messi struck again from a free kick from around 30 meters away. Schulte appeared to be deceived and Messi squeezed the ball between the goalkeeper and the near post for a 2-0 lead.

“Dominant,” said Inter Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino.

Diego Rossi scored for Columbus in the first minute of the second half to cut the lead in half, but it didn’t take long for Inter Miami to restore the two-goal lead. Almost immediately after play resumed, Schulte was knocked over by one of his own defenders and Suarez sent a header into the empty goal for a 3-1 lead.

Juan “Cucho” Hernández’s penalty in the 61st minute brought Columbus to 3-2. But once again the momentum didn’t last long. Rudy Camacho was sent off for his second yellow card in the 63rd minute, meaning the Crew had to play the rest of the game with 10 men.

It didn’t matter. Columbus created a few great opportunities later on.

In the 76th minute, a deflected ball across the penalty area landed on Mohamed Farsi’s right foot – but his shot was blocked by Callender, who was perfectly positioned to secure the lead.

Then came more drama when Inter Miami was called for their second handball in the penalty area – an automatic penalty – of the second half. Hernández hit the left side of the net, but Callender almost made the save look easy.

This save helped finish what Messi had started.

It was the fifth two-goal game of the MLS season for Messi, who has now scored 17 goals in 17 league games this season. He has missed 15 Inter Miami MLS games in 2024, either due to Argentina national team commitments or the two-month absence he needed to recover from a serious ankle injury – a Injury It happened during his country’s race to the Copa America title in July.

Inter Miami, playing in MLS this season, is now 10-1-6 with Messi in the lineup.

“During the year we had many, many injuries where we couldn’t all be together… but the group made the most of every tough game,” Messi said.

The Crew and the LA Galaxy entered Wednesday still with the mathematical hope of overtaking Inter Miami in the race for the Supporters Shield, and Cincinnati was nine points behind with nine points still possible.

But now they’re all playing for second place.

“Dec. 7 is what we want,” Martino said, referring to the date of the MLS Cup final. “But that is not insignificant today.”

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