FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Atlanta United opened Leagues Cup play Tuesday at DRV PNK Stadium against MLS club Inter Miami CF. The night belonged to Miami as two players, including Lionel Messi in his first start for the club, each recorded a brace and Atlanta United dropped their tournament debut 4-0.
"Total credit to Inter Miami, they were the better team tonight and they deserved the victory," Atlanta United head coach Gonzalo Pineda said.
With the result, Inter Miami moves on to the knockout round of Leagues Cup. Atlanta United's match against Liga MX side Cruz Azul on Saturday, July 29 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will determine the second team from the group to advance. Inter Miami beat Cruz Azul 2-1 on Friday in their Leagues Cup opener.
Atlanta United appeared to open the scoring in the second minute. After Miami took the opening kick and held some possession, Atlanta created a counterattack with Giorgos Giakoumakis. The striker carried the ball toward goal then crossed it to Tyler Wolff, who slid to slam it home past Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender. However, the early goal was not counted due to Giakoumakis being called offside.
It was, in fact, Miami’s superstar who opened the scoring. With the ball, Miami midfielder Sergio Busquets looked up to see Messi juke then make a vertical run and sent him a ball over the top. Messi's initial left-footed shot rolled past a sliding Brad Guzan and bounced off the post. However, Miami's captain was able to follow up his own shot and put it away to give the home team the go-ahead goal in the eighth minute.
Messi scored the second goal for Inter Miami, securing his first-half brace. Messi initiated an attack with the dribble, then sent a diagonal ball to Robert Taylor toward the right end line. Taylor crossed the ball back into the box where Josef Martínez left it for Messi. The World Cup winner finished it off with his right foot to make it 2-0 Inter Miami in the 22nd minute.
"Again, the key moments of the game are the first two goals for me," Pineda said. "Little mistakes that you can’t allow to a player like Lionel Messi."
Miami made it 3-0 in the 44th minute. From just outside the top of the box, Messi sent the ball centrally to Benjamin Cremaschi. The 18-year-old knocked it over to Taylor to his left. The midfielder sent a volley into the upper corner to give Inter Miami cushion heading into halftime. Taylor would score again on a breakaway to open the second half, which secured his brace and gave Miami a 4-0 lead.
Guzan's third save of the match denied the hat trick for Taylor. On a rapid counterattack, Messi and Martínez combined and the last pass was Martínez sending a low cross into the box for Taylor's shot on goal. The Atlanta United goalkeeper extended to get a hand on it and make the stop.
Atlanta United forced Callender to make three saves in the final 15 minutes. First, a shot from close range from striker Miguel Berry, who replaced Giakoumakis in the 65th minute. The second was on a direct free kick taken and well placed by Thiago Almada from about 20 yards out. Almada would have another chance after Derrick Etienne Jr., who entered the match for Caleb Wiley in the 80th minute, drew a foul inside the box. But Almada's penalty kick didn't fool Callender and the goalkeeper made the stop in the 86th minute to keep the clean sheet.
"They [Inter Miami] did a good job, but I think in some moments of the game, we couldn’t capitalize on the good moments we had in the final third," Pineda said. "We had 13 crosses, they had 0, and I felt that we had some clear crosses where we weren’t clinical and couldn’t convert them.”
Pineda went with three center backs in his starting XI. This time, he had Miles Robinson at his disposal to accompany Luis Abram and Juanjo Purata on the backline. Robinson missed some time with the club this summer while on international duty with the U.S. men's national team. He made the starting lineup against Inter Miami CF on Tuesday for the first time since June 10.
The match introduced Atlanta United supporters to Leagues Cup, the new World Cup-style tournament featuring clubs from MLS and Liga MX. With Inter Miami CF and Cruz Azul, Atlanta United's group features two clubs in MLS and one club from Liga MX. The top two teams from the group will advance, based on group points. Atlanta United continues group play when it hosts Cruz Azul at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday. The winner of the match will advance to the single-elimination knockout round.
Atlanta United will see Messi and Inter Miami CF again this year in the second regular season matchup in 2023 between the two sides when the Herons travel to Atlanta in September.
Inter Miami  | Atlanta United  | |
Shots | 12 | 10 |
Shots on target | 7 | 6 |
Corner kicks | 2 | 8 |
Fouls committed | 8 | 9 |
Possession | 61% | 39% |
Passing accuracy | 89.7% | 85.3% |
