Messi scores twice, Inter Miami beats Nashville 2-1 in high-stakes MLS clash
Lionel Messi rest? Not a chance. Not when Inter Miami was on a roll and playing a home game against one of the hottest teams in Major League Soccer.
Messi, who played 90-plus minutes in the previous 14 games, was in the starting lineup against Nashville SC on Saturday night at Chase Stadium and delivered big time. He scored both goals in a 2-1 victory, his fifth brace in row in MLS play, and played hard from kickoff to the final whistle.
The 38-year-old Argentine captain delighted the home crowd in the 17th minute, converting a free kick with a bending left-footed shot that went beneath Nashville’s jumping wall, through the space the defenders left open and past helpless goalkeeper Joe Willis.
Messi’s teammates ran over to meet him for the celebration as the near-sellout crowd of 21,018, which included team co-owner David Beckham, went wild.
Messi gave Willis another nightmare in the second half. Shortly after Nashville tied the game 1-1 with a header by unmarked Hany Mukhtar in the 49th minute, Willis committed a costly error, passing the ball directly into the path of Messi, who took his time and tapped the ball into the center of the net to regain the lead for Miami.
It was Messi’s 16th goal in 16 games this season. The brace, his fifth in five consecutive games, moved Messi into a tie for the Golden Boot race lead with Nashville’s Sam Surridge, who has 16 goals in 21 games. Miami’s defense, particularly Maxi Falcon, stifled Surridge and gave him fits the entire night.
“Obviously, at some point we will have to give [Messi] him a rest, we talk to him every day, he feels good, and whenever we feel it’s the time to give him a break, we will,” Mascherano said. “As for his performance, there are no words. It is incredible what he keeps doing, breaking records every three days. I have said it a million times, he is the flag bearer of this team, he marks our path, he’s our leader. He’s the one who shows his teammates how we have to maintain our form right now and it’s a blessing for me to be alongside him in this stage of his career.”
Miami has won five consecutive MLS games and is unbeaten over six, and is playing with a new level of confidence after a strong performance in the Club World Cup.
Mascherano was particularly proud of his team’s defense against a Nashville team that poses many dangerous threats and scores a lot of goals.
“I have to congratulate the players for the effort they are making,” he said. “We were going up against a team that had not lost in 15 games in a row, a very good team, a physical team that generates a lot of scoring opportunities and scores a lot. Other than the second half when we were tired and gave up a goal, our players kept fighting. They stayed serious and overcame tough situations.”
Miami held the 1-0 lead at halftime. As Messi headed to the tunnel, he was approached by Nashville’s Colombian defender Jeisson Palacios, who asked the Argentine icon to swap jerseys, which he did.
Nashville is off to its best start in club history and entered Saturday’s game riding a 15-game unbeaten streak across all competitions.
A year after finishing in 13th place in the MLS Eastern Conference standings, Nashville sat just one point behind first place Cincinnati.
Miami was also in peak form heading into Saturday’s game.
After being eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup Round of 16, Inter Miami returned to MLS highly motivated and delivered back-to-back road victories against CF Montreal and New England Revolution over the span of five days.
Messi scored two goals in each of those two games, and made MLS history, becoming the first player to score multiple goals in four consecutive games. Now, the streak is up to five.
In the process, Miami moved up to fifth in the East, where it remains after Saturday’s win. Miami, with three games in hand, remains on pace to match last season’s record breaking total. Miami is five points behind East leader Cincinnati, which it plays on the road Wednesday and again at home July 26.
Joining Messi in the Miami Starting XI Saturday night were: Oscar Ustari, Marcelo Weigandt, David Martinez, Maxi Falcon, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Benja Cremaschi, Telasco Segovia, Tadeo Allende, and Luis Suarez.
Fede Redondo replaced Allende and Baltasar Rodriguez went in for Segovia at the 63-minute mark. Suarez came off in the 83rd minute, replaced by center back Tomas Aviles. And Ryan Sailor replaced Weigandt in added time.
Nashville’s starters were: Joe Willis, Daniel Lovitz, Jaisson Palacios, Jack Maher, Andy Najar, Patrick Yazbek, Hany Mukhtar, Jacob Shaffelburg, Edvard Tagseth, Ahmed Qasem, and Sam Surridge.
Two big reasons for Nashville’s success are Surridge and 2022 MLS MVP Mukhtar with nine goals and eight assists.
Maschererano was asked why his team is playing so much better now than it was during a rough patch in early May. His answer: “Something clicked in the players in the second half against Philadelphia, something was inside us that didn’t come out until that game. And then, game by game they started realizing that they could compete with strong teams, teams with more prestige and history than us, and then we have continued in that same form since coming back to MLS. The challenge is to keep going from now until the end of the season.”
This story was originally published July 12, 2025 at 7:15 PM.