Messi scores, La Familia protests, Inter Miami gets first home win vs. Portland
Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates, hunting for their first home win in their sparkling new Nu Stadium after three ties and a loss, finally got it Sunday night with a 2-0 victory against the Portland Timbers.
But the celebration was muted and stadium was quieter and less colorful than usual for the first 85 minutes. La Familia, Inter Miami’s collection of ardent supporters’ groups, staged a silent protest because they felt the players have not shown them enough respect and gratitude since they moved to the new venue, according to multiple members of the group.
La Familia members typically bang drums and sing their hearts out from opening to closing whistle but decided to stay quiet and brought no flags or instruments to the stadium. They said the players had walked off the field and headed straight to the locker room after the four home games so far without acknowledging them. They said the only player who took time to wave at them was Noah Allen.
“The players have shown no respect to La Familia, have not come to our stand after the games when we have guys come in as early as 11 a.m. to set up our tailgate and set up our flags inside the stadium,” said JC Aviles of the Southern Legion supporter group. “Not to mention, we sing our hearts out for 90-plus minutes. The only player that came to say hi was Noah Allen and everyone else goes straight to the locker room. Not cool!”
La Familia finally came to life in the 85th minute, began singing, and the stadium atmosphere that had been missing all night was finally back.
After the game, roughly half of the Inter Miami players, mostly newcomers and younger players, went over toward the North stands and recognized La Familia. Messi, Rodrigo De Paul, Luis Suarez and German Berterame waved at the other sections of the stadium and then went to the tunnel, drawing some whistles from the supporters. Messi seemed to be scolding La Familia with a finger wag aimed in their direction, showing his displeasure with their protest.
The building was eerily quiet until Messi scored on a left-footed shot off a back-heel pass from Telasco Segovia to give Miami a 1-0 lead in the 31st minute. Suarez was also involved in the scoring sequence. Berterame doubled Inter Miami’s lead in the 42nd minute and Messi got the assist after dribbling through tight spaces in traffic to find his teammate.
The game had added meaning for Inter Miami fans because the Timbers are coached by former Miami coach Phil Neville, who was fired six days before Messi announced he was joining Inter Miami in June of 2023.
Inter Miami was coming off back-to-back road wins at Toronto and Cincinnati and in third place in the Eastern Conference, tied in points with New England, but the Revolution held the edge on goal differential. Miami had 25 points on seven wins, two losses and four ties, two points behind leader Nashville.
Miami won a wild game 5-3 at FC Cincinnati on Wednesday. Messi scored two goals (and had a third that was later ruled a Cincinnati own goal), German Berterame one and Mateo Silvetti one.
Interim Miami coach Guillermo Hoyos went with the same starting lineup on Sunday: Dayne St. Clair, Gonzalo Lujan, Sergio Reguilon, Micael, Ian Fray, Rodrigo De Paul, Yannick Bright, Telasco Segovia, Luis Suarez, German Berterame, and Messi.
On the bench were Facundo Mura, David Ayala, Noah Allen, Rocco Rios-Novo, Maxi Falcon, David Ruiz, Daniel Pinter, Preston Plambeck, and Alex Shaw. Mateo Silvetti, who returned from injury to score a goal and have an assist off the bench against Cincinnati, was left off the roster, per coach’s decision, to allow him to rest, per a team spokesperson.
The Timbers were in 12th place in the West and coming off a 2-2 midweek tie against FC Montreal.
Neville said in the leadup to the game that while he tried to block out emotions, being back in South Florida brought back many good memories. He added that since Messi joined the team, Inter Miami has raised the bar for the rest of the league.
“Inter Miami over the last three and a half years have taken the whole MLS to another level, and every single person involved, on and off the pitch, should be incredibly excited because what that’s done is raise the bar and everybody else has to catch up. It’s created rivalries. Owners are now competing, which is great, billionaires all wanting to be on top of the tree, spending more money and that only helps the league.”
This story was originally published May 17, 2026 at 7:00 PM.