During the first half of Inter Miami’s 1-1 draw in the Concacaf Champions Cup against Nashville SC, Lionel Messi accomplished a significant feat. In the seventh minute of play, he took a shot from the center of the box that may have looked like any other shot, but it was the 900th goal that Messi has ever scored for club or country. Messi joins Cristiano Ronaldo as the only male players to ever accomplish this feat, as Ronaldo has 965. Unfortunately, due to away goals being the tiebreaker in Champions Cup play, that goal wasn’t enough to push Miami to the last eight of the tournament, as they’ve now been eliminated on away goals.
Showing no signs of slowing down ahead of the 2026 World Cup, where Messi could win a second consecutive title with Argentina, there’s plenty to accomplish with Inter Miami first, but falling out of the Champions Cup is quite a setback for the Herons. Winning the tournament was one of their main goals this season due to it giving them another berth in the FIFA Club World Cup, where they accomplished another first for an MLS team by making it to the round of 16 and defeating Porto along the way.
But now, they’ll have to refocus while taking part in MLS and Leagues Cup play for the remainder of the season.
With the goal, new signing Sergio Reguilon’s influence is already showing as the Spanish left back made his way down the pitch to get onto the ball and set up Messi with his first assist for the Herons. Then Messi did the rest with a seeing-eye shot to beat Nashville keeper Brian Schwake.
It’s only the second start for Reguilon, who was brought in to replace Jordi Alba, who retired at the end of Miami’s MLS Cup-winning campaign last season, but if he’s able to keep making runs like this, he’ll fit right in with the team. Leaving the match with an injury was part of what started Miami’s demise, but the team will hope that it’s not a serious one.
Messi is looking to accomplish the unheard of feat of winning the MLS MVP award for a third consecutive time, as every time that he steps on the pitch, it’s clear how important he is to this team.
While Messi scored the majority of his goals with Barcelona, netting 672, he has also scored 81 so far at Miami, adding 23 with Paris Saint-Germain, and 115 more for Argentina. Everywhere that Messi has gone, he hasn’t had an issue finding the back of the net, as consistency has been key for the 38-year-old. As he prepares for what could be his final appearance for the World Cup, all we can do is sit back and enjoy the show.
