Messi returns from injury, carries Inter Miami to 3-1 win over L.A. Galaxy
Just when it seemed Inter Miami was going to be embarrassed for the second weekend in a row, Lionel Messi came off the bench and came to the rescue.
The Argentine captain scored the go-ahead goal in the 84th minute and delivered a back-heel assist to Luis Suarez five minutes later to secure a 3-1 victory over the struggling Los Angeles Galaxy.
Messi struck the way he often does, weaving through tight spaces, getting around a defender and launching a left-footed blast from distance to the bottom left corner as Chase Stadium erupted and the opposing goalkeeper Novak Micovic stood helpless. It was Messi’s 19th goal in 19 games, as he leads the MLS Golden Boot race.
He returned to action after missing two games with a mild hamstring injury, appeared uncomfortable at times, grabbing his leg, but pushed through. Coach Javier Mascherano said Messi did not look 100 percent, but was determined to play and was able to finish the game.
“Leo wants to play every single game,” Mascherano said. “He wanted to play in Orlando, also. It was impossible. It’s like this. You have to understand why Leo is Leo. He always wants to be on the pitch. He’s happy there. Sometimes we try to explain to him to go slowly, but at the end, when he feels good, he knows himself like no one, so we tried to give him minutes to get him ready for the next games.”
He will be evaluated on Sunday. Inter Miami’s next game is the Wednesday Leagues Cup quarterfinal against Mexican club Tigres.
With Saturday’s win, Miami moved up from sixth place to fifth in the MLS Eastern Conference standings and sits seven points behind leader Cincinnati with three games in hand and 10 games remaining in the regular season.
“This win was vital,” Mascherano said. “We all were aware that the way we lost against Orlando was not what he wanted, and we wanted to prove that it was an accident that would not happen again. If we want to reach important goals in this final stage of the season, winning games like this is vital. Against Orlando, we were losing in the second minute. [Saturday] Los Angeles didn’t get a shot off against us in the first half.”
Messi and Rodrigo De Paul came off the bench to roars from the crowd at the start of the second half with Inter Miami holding a 1-0 lead over the last-place Galaxy. Mascherano said the plan was to give Messi 45 minutes to ease him back into game fitness after the two-week layoff and De Paul needed time, too, after missing training early in the week to complete his visa paperwork.
Fifteen minutes after Messi and De Paul entered the game, the stadium went silent as Joseph Paintsil, the powerful Ghanian forward, maneuvered past Miami defenders Marcelo Weigandt and Gonzalo Lujan and beat goalkeeper Oscar Ustari for the equalizer.
This is not how anyone expected the game to play out. Miami’s roster is the most expensive and high-profile in the league, and though the team was coming off a humbling 4-1 loss to Orlando City, Miami was heavily favored against a Galaxy team that had won just three games all season and allowed 52 goals.
Not to worry. Messi stepped up big time.
When he and De Paul ran to the corner flag to warm up in the 40th minute with the game knotted at 0-0, the sea of pink went wild.
The volume got even louder two minutes later, when Jordi Alba, who normally plays on the left, streaked up the right and collected a brilliant through ball from Sergio Busquets and knocked it in to give Inter Miami a 1-0 lead.
A few minutes earlier, an apparent goal from Telasco Segovia off a slick back-heel pass from Suarez was ruled off side. Miami dominated the first half, outshooting the Galaxy 12-0, with three shots on goal.
Fafa Picault got the start on the left wing Saturday with Luis Suarez up top and Benja Cremaschi started in the midfield along with Tadeo Allende, Segovia, and Busquets. The rest of the starters were goalkeeper Oscar Ustari, right back Marcelo Weigandt, center backs Maxi Falcon and Gonzalo Lujan, and left back Alba.
Picault, a Haitian American who spent his teen years in Miami, and Cremaschi, a Key Biscayne native, are both fan favorites at Chase Stadium. Both had expressed a desire to get more playing time in recent weeks, which is tough with the team’s loaded roster. They got their wish and performed well.
“Fafa had a great match,” Mascherano said. “We took him out later in the second half because he felt some fatigue and we thought Baltasar [Rodriguez] was a good substitution there.”
Cremaschi had mentioned to reporters early this week that it was challenging being plugged in different positions rather than being able to focus on one, and that he often doesn’t know where he will play week to week. Mascherano clarified that the young player’s versatility has allowed him to get minutes he otherwise might not get.
“I heard those comments and they were unfortunate because I think what Benja meant to say is that he plays in many different positions,” Mascherano said. “But when he starts, he knows exactly where he will play. It’s not like I flip a coin in the morning and decide who will play where. When you come in as a sub, where you play depends on the game situation.
“I understand he likes to play [central] midfielder. I liked to play that, too. But I went to Barcelona and had to play center back because otherwise I had no chance to play. This is professional football. I decide the lineup. My office door is always open if a player ever wants to tell me he doesn’t want to play a certain position, and so far, nobody has complained face to face.”
They were favored at home against the defending MLS Cup champion Galaxy, which plummeted to last place this season with the league’s worst record (three wins, 15 losses and seven ties). Los Angeles has given up 55 goals, the worst defensive record in the league.
The Galaxy is winless in 16 road games and was coming off a 4-1 loss to the Seattle Sounders. Galaxy star Riqui Puig has been out all season with a knee injury, but the roster includes high quality players such as Marco Reus, Edwin Cerrillo and Diego Fagundez.
Both teams advanced to the Leagues Cup quarterfinals and play on Wednesday, Inter Miami against Tigres and the Galaxy against Pachuca.
This story was originally published August 16, 2025 at 7:24 PM.