FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Lionel Messi‘s first-half brace propelled Inter Miami to a 4-0 victory over Nashville SC at Chase Stadium on Saturday to advance in the MLS playoffs for the first time in club history.
Tadeo Allende wrapped up the win with a quickfire double of his own late in the second half, with Messi providing the assist for the second.
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With the win, Miami clinched the Round 1 series 2-1 to progress to the Eastern Conference semifinals and a meeting with No. 2 seed FC Cincinnati.
Inter Miami entered the game at a disadvantage without Luis Suárez, who watched from the sidelines after receiving a one-game suspension from the MLS disciplinary committee for violent conduct in Game 2 of the series last week.
Despite the absence of the veteran striker, Inter Miami earned the early lead in the 10th minute after Messi took possession of the ball in the final third and fired a shot into the lower-right corner of the goal.
Messi then doubled the score late in the second half with the help of Mateo Silvetti, the player whom Miami coach Javier Mascherano chose to replace Suárez in the starting 11.
Miami continued to dominate as the game progressed, and Allende scored two goals in a span of five minutes to clinch its ticket to the next round.
Despite Nashville’s 11 shots throughout the match, goalkeeper Rocco Ríos Novo kept the team’s first clean sheet of the 2025 postseason.
Messi, fresh off winning the Golden Boot during the regular season, finished the three-game series with five goals. He has 12 goals in just seven career matches against Nashville, the most against any MLS opponent since his arrival in July 2023.
Miami, the No. 3 seed in the East, now prepares to face FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium in Ohio for the one-game Eastern Conference semifinal. Inter Miami previously failed to advance out of the first round of the playoffs, falling at the opening hurdle in 2022 and 2024.
In 2024, Messi’s first full season with the club, Miami was ousted in its opening-round series in three games against Atlanta after winning the Supporters’ Shield.
Saturday’s victory ensured at least one more game in the career of Messi’s longtime teammates Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, who have both announced they will retire at the end of the season.
The Inter Miami-Cincinnati winner will play either top-seeded Philadelphia Union or fifth-seeded New York City FC in the East final. The MLS Cup final is scheduled for Dec. 6, and Philadelphia, Cincinnati or Inter Miami would host that match if any of them reached the title game.
Information from The Associated Press and ESPN Research was used in this report.
