Messi’s two goals, two assists help Inter Miami bounce back with rout of Red Bulls
With Lionel Messi leading the way, Inter Miami turned the page quickly on Saturday.
Just three days after a lopsided 3-0 defeat at FC Cincinnati, Messi was himself again and Inter Miami picked up three valuable points in the MLS standings following a 5-1 rout of the host New York Red Bulls at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, N.J.
Messi, who was held scoreless by Cincinnati on Wednesday, finished with two goals and two assists, and Telasco Segovia also had two first-half goals as Inter Miami erased an early one goal deficit and picked up its sixth win in its past seven league matches.
Messi’s stellar performance came just three days after his MLS-record five-game streak of games with multiple goals was snapped at Cincinnati.
“We’ve played five matches in two weeks and it’s affected us,” Segovia said in a postgame interview with Apple TV. “It definitely affected us against Cincinnati. But luckily we were able to recover tonight and pick up three points.”
Messi’s two goals gave him 18 this season in MLS matches, and his two assists brought his total in league games to nine.
Inter Miami (12-4-5) brought its season total to 41 points with the victory as it remained in fifth place, but continued to close the gap between their team and the top four clubs in the Eastern Conference. Miami, which beat the Red Bulls for the second time this season, has three games more to play than each of those top four squads it is chasing - Philadelphia, Nashville, Cincinnati and Columbus.
Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano was pleased with the response of his squad following the setback on Wednesday, especially considering it was his team’s ninth match in the past 36 days. Mascherano had referred to Saturday’s game as “the end of a marathon” as Inter Miami will have a full week to prepare for its next match, which is scheduled for next Saturday against Cincinnati at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
Messi and Jordi Alba have each been selected to play in the MLS All-Star Game, which is on Wednesday night in Austin, Texas. Mascherano said on Friday that no decision had been made as to whether Messi and Alba will participate in the game.
“In these two weeks where we’ve played five matches, it was a complex situation for us with the road travel and short rest times between games,” Mascherano said. “The Cincinnati game reflected the lack of rest time we had plus the fact they were much better than we were. We hope to take advantage of this week to have the players who need the rest be able to get that rest and have players who are recovering from injuries start to really recover from them.
“We want to keep being competitive in every competition we play in.”
Things did not start well for Inter Miami, though, as the Red Bulls struck first in the 15th minute on a set piece as Emil Forsberg lifted a corner kick in front of Miami’s goal line, which Alexander Hack kicked home for a score. Hack found the mark despite marked closely by Federico Redondo, who returned to the starting lineup after missing the team’s prior match.
As Mascherano announced Friday, goalkeeper Oscar Ustari sat out Saturday’s game after suffering an injury on Wednesday. Rocco Rios Novo made his second start and fifth appearance this season.
But Miami responded nine minutes later when Alba scored his first goal of the MLS season when he received a cross from Messi on the left side and fired it quickly past Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Miguel Coronel to tie the match.
Alba left the match in the 84th minute with what appeared to be a leg cramp.
Luis Suarez found Messi on a rush up field to create the scoring chance and pick up an assist.
Suarez also continued to start despite his recent struggles as he did not score for the sixth consecutive match across all competitions.
Three minutes later, a similar advance went almost the same way - Suarez to Messi to Alba. But this time, Alba crossed it back in to Segovia, who did the honors and put Inter Miami ahead 2-1.
Inter Miami pressured again in the third minute of first half stoppage time as Redondo advanced the ball into the box, but was met by multiple Red Bulls defenders. As the ball was tapped away from them, Segovia surged in and fired a shot through traffic and past Coronel for Miami’s third score of the half.
“I’m really happy with the results tonight and I just hope I can keep doing this and more importantly that the team continues to find a way to keep picking up three points,” Segovia said.
Messi scored his first goal in the 60th minute on a breakway set up by a beautiful lead ball by Sergio Busquets. He added a second in the 75th minute.
THIS AND THAT
▪ Gonzalo Lujan (hamstring) returned to Miami’s starting lineup.
▪ Maxi Falcon picked up a yellow card in the 29th minute, which means he will have to sit out the match against Cincinnati due to yellow card accumulation.
▪ Mascherano said after the game that Allen Obando (hamstring) has continued to experience some discomfort, which hasn’t allowed him to train regularly. He said he wasn’t ready to play yet on Saturday.
This story was originally published July 19, 2025 at 6:50 PM.
