Leonardo Campana becomes Inter Miami’s all-time top goal scorer

A late strike from Alexey Miranchuk denied Inter Miami from logging their sixth straight win on Wednesday night. It ended all square on the whistle, Tata Martino’s team were held to a 2-2 draw by Atlanta but there was some cause for celebration at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Campana reaches 30 goals for Inter Miami

Leonardo Campana put the Herons 1-2 up from a free-kick just before the hour - it brought up his fifth goal of the current MLS campaign, his sixth in all competitions to take his total to 30 goals during his time in Miami - setting a new franchise record.

Up until last night, the 24-year-old Ecuadorian shared Inter Miami’s all-time goals record with Gonzalo Higuaín - both players were tied on 29 goals for the Fort Lauderdale organization. Campana’s strike in Atlanta, which took a fortunate deflection off the wall, allowed him to edge ahead of El Pipita and make the record his own.

Campana joined Inter Miami from Premier League club Wolves in January 2022, initially on a season-long loan. He scored his debut goal for the team in the 5–1 defeat to Austin FC in his second outing, following it up with a hat trick against the New England Revolution in Week 7 and ending the regular season with a tally of 11 goals.

He has reached the 30-goal mark in 93 appearances. Higuaín took 70 games to get to his total of 29 and both players could eventually be overtaken by the team’s star signing and captain, Lionel Messi.

Messi is currently on 27 goals - a figure he reached in just 30 games. The Argentinean, who started on the bench against Atlanta and was brought on for the last half hour, is in close pursuit. He may well have broken the record had he not suffered an ankle injury while on duty with Argentina back in July. That setback kept him out for 58 days during which he missed 13 games for Tata Martino’s team.

Another player who is likely to make his way up in the ranking in the five remaining regular season games plus the postseason, is Luis Suárez. The Uruguayan currently stands on 21 goals in 29 appearances since joining Inter Miami at the start of this year.

Campana seizes opportunity while top stars are rested

Campana has had to fight for a starting place throughout his career - a situation he experience at Barcelona (Guayaquil), Wolves, Famalicão and Grasshoppers. It’s been the same story at Inter Miami where he is second choice to players like Messi and Luis Suárez. This season, he has made 28 appearances - just 13 in the starting XI and has started and completed eight games.

Tata Martino rested Messi and Luis Suárez against Atlanta, both were on the bench to give the Ecuadorian striker an opportunity, which he took full advantage of.

Inter Miami’s next match is against New York City FC at Yankee Stadium on Saturday - a chance for Campana, Messi and Luis Suárez to climb the ranking in the battle to write their names in the franchise’s history books.