Inter Miami may have only been back in preseason for about five days, but Lionel Messi didn’t need long to score his first goal of 2025 against Club America in Las Vegas. Club America opened the scoring through Henry Martin in the 31st minute, but that lead lasted just three minutes for the Mexican team as Messi scored a rare headed goal.
Jordi Alba collected the ball and Luis Suarez did a great job of keeping the game alive before Messi scored with the most unlikely touch – a header in the box. Although there have been a lot of changes in Miami with the Herons hiring Messi’s former teammate Javier Mascherano as head coach this season, Miami’s success will depend on the combination of this trio much more.
Although everyone is a year older, being able to pull this off against a team that has already played two games in Liga MX shows how dangerous Miami’s offense will be when given space. This also shows that the defense has work to do, but in preseason the offense is usually ahead of the defense.
Messi also spent time after the goal taunting the fans with another celebration:
It’s unclear what exactly the “me three, you zero” celebration means, so we’ll have to wait and see if he comments on that. Could he be speaking to Mexican fans, since Club America is a Mexican team, perhaps signaling their 3-0 record against Mexico in the World Cup? The three stars of Argentina? Or maybe winning three international trophies with Argentina?
Nonetheless, Messi’s goal means he has now scored a goal for 21 consecutive years, as expectations will be for Miami to win the MLS Cup later this year after falling short last season.
With Leonardo Campana and Diego Gomez now gone from Miami, players like Fafa Picault and Robert Taylor will need to help recoup that lost production. More business will likely be done, but this is a good way for Inter Miami to kick off the preseason game before its slate continues against Universitario, Sporting San Miguelito, Olimpia and Orlando City before starting the Concacaf Champions Cup match against Sporting Kansas City on February 18.
