All-time great Lionel Messi’s instant impact at Inter Miami continued last night as he scored twice in the Herons’ 3-1 victory over Orlando City in the Florida derby.
The Argentine opened the scoring in the seventh minute with a wonderful chest trap and finish on the volley with his left foot high into the roof of the net past Peruvian Pedro Gallese.
Lionel Messi stars once more for Inter Miami
Messi then hit the post late into the first half before scoring another volley in the second half, this time with his right foot, to seal a comfortable win and fire Inter Miami into the last 16 of the Leagues Cup after three wins out of three in the group stage.
ANOTHER MESSI BRACE ✔️
Messi makes it a 3-1 lead for #InterMiamiCF pic.twitter.com/8abWvRIeHj
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) August 3, 2023
The 36-year-old captain rolled back the years looking totally at ease with his new teammates and former Barca teammate Sergio Busquets- who played the full 90 minutes. Full-back Jordi Alba also came on as a second-half substitute to make his Inter debut as the Herons’ form continues to improve under new coach Tata Martino.
Messi’s excellent performance came on the same night it was revealed that in the first 24 hours of his Inter Miami number 10 jersey being put on sale, the Argentinian broke the record of shirt sales of any player changing teams across all sports according to ESPN.
