Inter Miami’s Defeat Without Lionel Messi: A Bitter 5-2 Setback against Atlanta United

2023-09-17 00:04:00

Without the presence of its star player Lionel Messi, Inter Miami was left without a response to the multiple attacks of Atlanta United and Miami suffered a bitter 5-2 setback.

Earlier Saturday, the approximately 72,000 fans who had purchased tickets to see Messi in action learned that the star player had not made the trip to Atlanta due to fatigue. Thus, Messi has still not played a match on synthetic surface since his arrival in North America.

This is also Inter Miami’s first defeat since Lionel Messi joined the team. Miami still remains undefeated when Messi is in uniform, having collected 11 goals and 5 assists in 11 games.

Saturday followingnoon, Miami was at least able to count on the performance of Leonardo Campana, barely a day following accepting a contract extension until 2027 with the team. Campana scored both of Miami’s goals in the loss.

It was he who opened the scoring in the 25th minute of play. The sequence began when Dixon Arroyo’s powerful shot hit the post head on. Well positioned in front of the net, Campana recovered the ball and made a magnificent move to score and open the scoring.

Atlanta, however, responded 11 minutes later. Tristan Muyumba deftly redirected a header and the ball barely crossed the goal line to allow Atlanta to tie the game 1-1.

Visibly inspired by this goal, Atlanta added before the end of the half with two more goals. Atlanta first got lucky when Kamal Miller redirected the ball into his own net, then Brooks Lennon made it 3-1 just three minutes later with a powerful strike into the box.

Campana reduced the gap to 3-2 with a penalty in the 53rd minute of play, but Atlanta took the lead late in the match with goals from Giorgos Giakoumakis (76′) and Tyler Wolff (89′).

Miami returns to action once morest Toronto on Wednesday, while Atlanta meets DC United the same day.

Elsewhere in the MLS

New York City FC 0 – Red Bulls 0
NYC : New York City finished the match with 58% possession of the ball.
NYRB : The Red Bulls end a three-game losing streak.

Toronto FC 1 – Whitecaps 2
TFC : TFC has only won 2 of its last 21 matches in all competitions.
VAN : The Whitecaps came from behind thanks to goals from Tristan Blackmon and Brian White, and they collected 10 points from a possible 12 on their road trip.

Orlando City 4 – Crew 3
ORL : Ramiro Enrique gave the victory in stoppage time following tying the score 3-3.
CLB : Columbus led 1-0 at halftime before an exciting 6-goal second half in which they led by 2.

Charlotte FC 0 – D.C. United 0
CHA : Kristijan Kahlina made 6 saves.
DCU : Alex Bono made 2 saves in his 4th start for DC, who posted three shutouts in a row for the first time since June 2021.

Union – Cincinnati FC
PHI : Defenseman Jakob Glesnes joins Chris Klein as the only two players (excluding goaltenders) to start 100 straight games in the regular season, and the sixth overall.
CIN :

FC Dallas – Sounders
DAL :
SEA :

Dynamo – Saint-Louis FC
NEW :
STL :

Minnesota United – Sporting KC
MIN :
KC :

Rapids – Revolution
COL :
N-A :

Earthquakes – Real Salt Lake
SJ :
RSL :

LAFC – Galaxy
LAFC :
LAG :

1694917817
#MLS #absence #Lionel #Messi #felt #Miami