Lionel Messi netted the 899th goal of his illustrious career, leading Inter Miami to a 2-1 victory over D.C. United on Saturday in front of 72,026 spectators at the Baltimore Ravens’ stadium.
Due to the high demand for Messi’s appearances, this match was moved to downtown Baltimore rather than being held at D.C. United’s smaller stadium in Washington. Messi delighted fans by putting Inter Miami (2-1-0) ahead 2-0 in the first half.
“It’s definitely nice to play in away stadiums and know that there are likely more fans supporting us than the home team,” said Inter Miami goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair. “That won’t always be true in every stadium, but it certainly was the case tonight.”
Rodrigo De Paul also contributed to the scoring for the reigning MLS Cup champions. Meanwhile, Tai Baribo narrowed the gap for D.C. (1-2-0) with a goal in the 75th minute, but they were unable to find the equalizer.
This week was quite eventful for Messi and his team, which paid a visit to the White House on Thursday. Inter Miami struck first in the 17th minute, with De Paul finding the back of the net from about 15 yards out.
Messi then scored his fourth goal of the young season by making a clever run behind the D.C. defense to latch onto a pass from Mateo Silvetti, deftly flicking the ball past goalkeeper Sean Johnson.
The 38-year-old forward is now poised to become only the second men’s player in history, after Cristiano Ronaldo, to reach 900 career goals, as Inter Miami prepares to face Nashville on Wednesday in its first match of the Concacaf Champions Cup.
Head coach Javier Mascherano expressed his intention for the team to compete for every title this season, while also recognizing the need to manage player minutes at times.
“I think it would be a significant mistake to prioritize certain competitions over others,” he stated at his news conference. “We need to approach every competition equally.”
“For us, the Champions Cup is a critical focus in the first half of the season, and we will treat it with the importance it deserves. We aim to progress as far as we can, but that won’t mean neglecting our league matches.”
“Last year, the team effectively competed across all tournaments, reaching near the final stages in every one apart from the Club World Cup. This year, we plan to replicate that success and hopefully progress further in the Champions Cup.”
“At some point, however, we’ll need to start managing players’ minutes as playing every few days can be quite taxing, especially at the beginning of the season where we’ve had a series of away games. This is another important factor to consider as it may lead to additional fatigue.”
Inter Miami has now won two consecutive matches after losing their league opener 3-0 to LAFC.
D.C. United found the net in the second half when Jackson Hopkins‘ shot was parried, allowing Baribo to score from the rebound.
This report includes contributions from ESPN’s Lizzy Becherano and The Associated Press.