Fans have taken to social media to praise Lionel Messi's brilliant performance in Inter Miami's 3-2 win over Columbus Crew. The two sides met at the Lower.com Field on Wednesday, September 2, with Messi scoring a brace.
The Argentine ace was a thorn in Columbus' defense, as they struggled to find an answer to his threats in the final third. He scored the first goal in the 45th minute, just on the cusp of half-time. The Barcelona legend's second goal came from a free-kick that curled around the wall beautifully (45 +5').
Messi did everything right on the day, playing the full 90 minutes and impacting the game regularly. He had 71 touches on the ball, got past his markers with three successful dribbles, and had a key pass that might have led to another goal for Inter Miami.
The superstar forward has helped the Herons win the Supporters' Shield, and the fans are delighted with his performance. They discussed Lionel Messi, who has scored 17 times in as many MLS games this season, on social media with posts like:
"Al Hilal terrorizing Ronaldo in Saudi while Messi leading a lower level team to success they’ve never reached," a fan claimed.
"I speak for all Messi fans when i say we’ve been overfed. We don’t want trophies and awards again 😌" another laughed.
"It's insane how Inter Miami was at the bottom when Messi joined them, and just a little over a year later, they won the league thanks to Leo... Another significant chapter in his almost divine career." a fan praised Messi.
"Lionel Messi isn't human," another added.
"Absolutely beauty... Una Ronaldo fans you need to start watching Messi and enjoy good football ❤️" a third fan claimed.
"Can Cristiano Ronaldo join a small club and even placed them on second or third place hahahaha. Messi is not a human being because what he's doing is absolutely unbelievable. " a fan was full of praise.
"Messi is not serious with Inter Miami 😂 …great performance tonight tho," a fan laughed.
"It’s pretty crazy that Messi has 17 goals and 10 assists in 1420 MLS regular season minutes. He is close to averaging a goal contribution per half!!!! It’s a mix of his greatness and MLS mediocre defending." this fan revealed.
"Messi is carrying Inter Miami to back to back trophy wins. While Karius is in Al Nassr celebrating tapins that don’t benefit the team 😭" a fan added.
Colombus Crew's spirited fightback was not enough to topple Lionel Messi's Inter Miami
After a first half that ended with Lionel Messi's brilliance, Colombus Crew looked to be a rejuvenated side when starting the second half. It took them just one minute to find their goal, with Diego Rossi scoring to make it 2-1 (46').
However, their backline struggled to keep out a ruthlessly clinical Inter Miami attack. Luis Suarez took advantage of a defensive error between the Crew goalkeeper and defender in the 48th minute to put Inter Miami ahead 3-1.
While Colombus scored their second goal from a penalty through Cucho Hernandez in the 61st minute, a red card for Rudy Camacho gave them problems. They had another penalty in the 84th minute, but Drake Callender saved it to keep the scoreline at 3-2.