Lionel Messi found the net once more as Inter Miami cruised into the CONCACAF Champions Cup last 16 with a 3-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Tuesday, sealing a 4-1 aggregate win.
After scoring the only goal in last week’s first-leg win in a freezing Kansas City, Messi wasted no time making an impact in the return fixture at a much warmer Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
It took the Argentine just 19 minutes to break the deadlock, finishing clinically into the bottom corner after receiving a chipped pass from his former Barcelona teammate Luis Suárez.
Sporting Kansas City briefly thought they had equalized when new signing Dejan Joveljic rounded Miami goalkeeper Oscar Ustari to score, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
Miami doubled their lead in first-half stoppage time when Messi set up Jordi Alba, whose low cross was turned in by Tadeo Allende. Just two minutes later, Kansas City’s Jacob Davis made a costly error with a miskicked clearance, allowing Suárez to volley home and extend Miami’s aggregate advantage to 4-0.
Kansas City pulled one back in the 63rd minute when Memo Rodríguez’s long-range effort took a deflection off Maximiliano Falcón and wrong-footed Ustari. However, the goal proved to be nothing more than a consolation.
Inter Miami will now face Jamaican club Cavalier, the reigning Caribbean Cup champions, in the next round, with the first leg set to take place in Florida in early March.
