Messi, Inter Miami vs Montreal 3-2. Results, Recap, Analysis

Stop us if you’ve heard this story before: Inter Miami falls behind early, the opposing team celebrates, feeling good about their chances of dethroning Lionel Messi and his pink-clad teammates from MLS status; And then, in the blink of an eye, Miami scored the equalizer, made some great passes and clinical finishes and won.

It happened for the fifth straight game Saturday night, when Inter Miami came from down 2-0 to CF Montreal after 43 minutes to win 3-2.

With the win, Miami remained on top of the MLS Eastern Conference and Supporters’ Shield race with 27 points on eight wins, two losses and three ties. Inter Miami also leads the league with 35 goals, 14 more than second-place Los Angeles Galaxy and Philadelphia Union.

Once again, Miami coach Tata Martino was asked if he was concerned that his team had made a habit of falling behind in the first half. Once again, he responded that the team would obviously prefer to score first, but this time, he felt that the team’s first-half defeat was due to their tactical changes that did not work.

“I don’t want to change the way we play; That’s the way we’re comfortable playing,” Martino said. “(Saturday) I tried to make changes based on Montreal’s strengths, especially how they start the game, and when I made changes we went down 2-0, so it was a mistake on my part, but After we got back to 4-4-2, we were ourselves again and took control of the game.

This time, Messi’s magic was not needed in the Miami rally. A week after breaking MLS records with a goal and five assists in a 6-2 defeat of the New York Red Bulls in Miami, the Argentina captain performed relatively well in his first game on Canadian soil. His most TV broadcast time came during a brief injury.

Instead, it was Matias Rojas, Luis Suarez and Benjamin Cremaschi who came to the rescue.

Just when it looked like Inter Miami would go into halftime scoreless, Rojas scored on a spectacular, left-footed free kick and Suárez followed four minutes later, moments before the end of extra time, from a Julian Gressel corner kick. Later the equalizer was achieved on a close range shot. , It was his 11th goal of the season, which leads the MLS Golden Boot race. Messi is in second place with 10.

“Montreal played very well in the first half, we basically tried with a five-man line to create high pressing, but we couldn’t get the ball to the forwards, and that proved costly, they scored two goals and then Matias’ goal got us back into the game,” said Martino. “After that we started playing differently, back to what we normally do with a 4-4-2 formation And of course we felt more comfortable.”

Cremaschi, a teenager from Key Biscayne, scored 59 goals in his first start of the season after missing the first eight games due to injury.^th minutes. Messi started the game on the counter-attack, passing the ball to Rojas, who played a pass over the Montreal back line to Cremaschi, who ran towards the goal and slid in with his legs outstretched to put the ball into the net.

“Benja generated a lot in the minutes he played,” Martino said. “It’s been a long time since he started a game, he played 70 minutes and we are very satisfied with his performance and his game-deciding goal.”

Recently signed Paraguay midfielder, Rojas, was making his first start, and scored, while a clearly angry Messi watched from the sidelines after leaving the field briefly after receiving medical treatment. Messi went down after a foul by Montreal’s George Campbell and had his left knee examined by a trainer. Under the new MLS rule, if a player receives medical treatment he must leave the field for two minutes, sending a man from his team off the field.

Martino said he felt Campbell deserved the yellow card, and instead suffered a loss to Miami, who had to play two minutes without their captain. He suggested that the new rule needed to be evaluated.

Montreal’s opening goal came from a familiar face.

Former Inter Miami midfielder Bryce Duke passed the ball between the legs of Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender after the right side of Miami’s defense was exposed in transition. Duke got an assist from Jules-Anthony Villasaint, who started in place of Tomás Aviles and left Miami defender Sergei Krivtsov, who was serving a suspension for collecting yellow cards.

After this, Wilson scored an own goal in 32^Ra minutes.

Messi received a warm welcome at the Stade Saputo, where the average ticket price was $450, the highest average price for an MLS game this season. Hundreds of fans welcomed Messi when the team arrived in Montreal on Friday.

Martino made only a few changes to the starting lineup after beating the New York Red Bulls 6-2 last weekend. The starting eleven was: Callender, Nico Freire, Krivtsov, Franco Negri, Marcelo Weigandt, Cremaschi, Sergio Busquets, Rojas, Gressel, Suárez, Messi.

What’s next for Messi? Will he play against Orlando?

Miami is back on the field against Orlando City on Wednesday and then returns home for Saturday night’s game against D.C. United. Martino has said that the team intends to extend its winning streak and gain as many points as possible in the standings before the start of June, when Messi and other players report to their national teams for the Copa America. Messi, and potentially Suarez and Rojas, could miss up to seven MLS games during the Copa, depending on how far their national teams progress. It remains to be seen whether Messi will take a break at some point in the next few matches to stay fit and fresh for the Copa America.

This story was originally published May 11, 2024, 9:23 pm.