Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi scored twice as Inter Miami defeated the defending Major League Soccer champion the Columbus Crew 3-2 to seal the Supporters’ Shield awarded for the best regular season record.
The 36-year-old Messi entered in the 45th minute and immediately put his club ahead, chesting down a long ball into the box and getting a lucky bounce off Crew defender Malte Amundsen before netting his first goal.
Minutes later, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner buried the second with a laser-precise free-kick into the corner past the keeper of the rival team Patrick Schulte, AFP reported.
However, the goal did come for Columbus when the ball fell to Diego Rossi after the second half.
Soon, Columbus was giving Miami a third goal when Schulte raced off his line but, with defender Rudy Camacho in his way, he dropped the ball to Luis Suarez, who headed into the unguarded goal.
The Crew responded once more to make it 3-2 on a penalty by Cucho Hernandez, given after a Noah Allen handball in the box. The momentum that Columbus had gained was again lost when Camacho was sent off after a studs-up challenge on Federico Redondo for a second yellow.
Seven minutes to the end, though, the Crew had a glorious chance to get a point when a penalty was awarded against Ian Fray for handball following a VAR review. But this time the penalty of Colombian Hernandez was weak and Miami keeper Drake Callender dived to his right and saved.
Inter Miami hosts Toronto FC on Saturday and then head off on an international break as Messi now joins his national team, Argentina, for matches against Venezuela and Bolivia in their qualifiers for the World Cup.
