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Lionel Messi seems unstoppable as he scored his ninth goal in six matches since moving to the US to deliver Inter Miami to their first-ever cup final
Inter Miami advanced to the Leagues Cup final following a 4-1 thrashing of Philadelphia Union on Wednesday morning in what was their sixth win in as many games, showing the impact Lionel Messi has made since arriving at the club one month ago.
As it has become a tradition now, Messi was among the scorers on Wednesday as Inter Miami cruised to the final with Josep Martinze, Jordi Alba and Dabid Ruiz the others on the scoresheet.
It is stuff of dreams for Inter Miami fans who had seen their team fail to win any of their 10 matches prior, their last victory arriving on May 24 against Nashville in the US Open Round of 16.
In fact, the club have only managed five wins in 22 MLS matches which leaves them bottom of the 15-team Eastern Conference table but they are not sweating over their position as there is no relegation in America’s top tier.
However, now there is optimism that they could yet replicate their cup form in the league and even make the playoff with 12 games still to go, something that looked beyond them before the former Barcelona superstar arrived.
Messi announced his arrival in the US with a stunning game-winning free-kick off the bench on his Inter Miami debut when his team began their Leagues Cup campaign with a 2-1 win against Liga MX team Cruz Azul.
He followed it up with a double against Atlanta United as Inter won 4-0 to advance to the Round of 32 where they beat Orlando City 2-1, the Argentine scoring a brace once more.
In the Round of 16, Inter were made to sweat by FC Dallas who forced them to a 4-4 draw, but Messi still got his customary two goals before Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino’s men won 5-3 on post-match penalties.
Another Messi goal arrived in the quarter-final, where they thrashed Charlotte 4-0 to book a semi-final date with Philadelphia.
Across their six Leagues Cup matches, Inter Miami have scored 21 goals in total and, in the four where all three of Messi and former Barcelona teammates Alba and Sergio Busquets have started, they have scored four goals in each match.
Prior to the ex-Barca trio's arrival, Miami had scored just 22 goals in as many games in MLS play, with Messi, on nine goals so far, now tied for third all-time on the club's goalscoring charts, trailing only Gonzalo Higuain and Leonardo Campana.
Messi’s former Argentina teammate Higuain scored 29 goals in 68 matches while Campana has 16 in 51 games and few will bet against the 35-year-old smashing that record given his scoring spree.
He has a chance to add onto his tally when the Herons play their first-ever Cup final on Sunday against either Nashville SC or Monterrey when a maiden trophy for him in the US and for the five-year-old club could be secured.
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