2-2 with San Diego: Messi's 101st goal for Inter Miami

Lionel Messi scored his 101st goal for Inter Miami on Sunday night, and San Diego FC scored either side of it. The match at Nu Stadium finished 2-2, a fourth consecutive draw in the league for Cristian González's team. 123

Anders Dreyer put San Diego ahead on 12 minutes, running onto Jeppe Tverskov's pass and finishing with his left foot from the centre of the box. 1 Messi equalised on 24 minutes with a free kick from about 32 yards, struck with his left foot into the top-left corner. 2 Luis Suárez put Miami in front on 74 minutes, converting a through ball from Rodrigo De Paul. 1 Dreyer levelled again on 82 minutes, his second goal of the night. 2

The point takes Miami to 46 from 26 matches. That leaves them third in the Eastern Conference, level on points with New England and 11 points behind Nashville SC. 4 Miami have now drawn four league matches in a row, against Atlanta, Chicago, Nashville and San Diego, and have not won in MLS since they beat CF Montréal 7-1 on Aug. 29. 2

Messi's goal was his 101st for the club in all competitions. He had reached 100 on Sept. 16, heading the opener in the Campeones Cup final against Cruz Azul. 3

Miami dominated the ball without turning it into a second win in the week: González's side took 17 shots to San Diego's seven, and six on target to two. 1 San Diego have now gone four matches without a win. 2

One club milestone came out of the same night. Yannick Bright, who started in midfield, became the 10th player in Inter Miami's history to reach 100 appearances for the club. 5

Lionel Scaloni had said nothing in public about his own future since Argentina lost the World Cup final to Spain in July. He spoke about it at the weekend, in an interview with MiGu, and he did not close anything off. 6

"Logically, we'll try, whether we're there or not," Scaloni said. "That's not the important thing. They truly deserve it, that's our intention in the upcoming matches: to give young players the opportunity to adapt to our style of play. Now an important, exciting period begins." 6

The coach compared the moment to the months after Argentina won the 2024 Copa América, when he also expected a hard stretch. "It's difficult to try, I'm not saying it will be easy," he said. "As a coach, as the leader of the group, you have to know that it's going to be difficult." 6

What he is handing over is already visible in the squad. The 37 names for the three October friendlies include Franco Mastantuono, Gianluca Prestianni, Matías Soulé, Leonardo Balerdi, Agustín Giay, Santiago Castro and Román Vega, and Scaloni's stated priority for the window is fitting them into the way the team already plays. 7

Xavi Hernández has given his own account of why Messi never went back to Barcelona. Speaking on a YouTube podcast published at the weekend, the former Barcelona coach said he spent four months in contact with Messi and pushed for the return. 8

"We were in contact for four months. Messi badly wanted to return to Barcelona, and I was 100 per cent in favour of it," Xavi said. "Messi himself had a lot of hope, and I and the entire coaching staff were waiting for it with great expectations." 89

The decision, in Xavi's telling, was the president's. "In the end, president Laporta decided that he did not want to sign Messi again," he said. "Suddenly, the president cancelled everything." Xavi added that telling Messi was the hard part: "It was very difficult for me to tell Messi that the return would not happen." 89

Messi left Barcelona in 2021, when the club could not register the contract it had agreed with him. The club later attributed that to its financial position and La Liga's rules. 9