MLS
Messi becomes the third oldest player to score a goal on his MLS debut
Despite having started on the bench for Inter Miami, he managed to score on his MLS debut, breaking yet another record with his new club.
Lionel Messi, with his goal against New York Red Bulls on his MLS debut, becomes the third oldest player to score on his first ever game in the competition.
Prior to Messi’s arrival at Inter Miami, the team was at the bottom of the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer. Now, with Messi in the side, the Florida outfit have won the Leagues Cup and have qualified for the US Open Cup final with their new talisman as captain.
Messi started from bench against NYRB
And following these achievements, the team led by ‘Tata’ Martino returned to the domestic tournament with the hope of having turned their fortunes around and continuing on with their new vein of unbeatable form: and that’s exactly how things turned out, as they defeated New York Red Bulls at the Red Bull Arena in New Jersey and jumped up from the bottom of the table.
As ‘Tata’ had already let him know, Messi was scheduled for a rest and decided to start the number ‘10′ on the bench along with Sergio Busquets - only Jordi Alba started as part of his trident of luxury reinforcements.
Who are the oldest players to score on their MLS debuts?
Everything looked like Inter Miami would go on to win the game with a solitary effort from the Paraguayan midfielder, Diego Gómez, who got his first league goal, but, after having entered the game at 60′ for Campana, Messi could not stay without being present during his MLS debut so it was; at 89′ he appeared to finish off a great collective play and a pass from Cremaschi, Leo scored during his debut in the American league.
ESPN reports that, with this goal, Messi became the third oldest player to score during his MLS debut, behind only figures such as Hugo Sánchez and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who were older when they bagged debut goals for Dallas Burn and LA Galaxy, respectively.
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Messi’s goalscoring run will end soon enough
It seems that Messi’s time in Miami has been written for a Hollywood movie, as everything has gone perfectly for the Argentine star since he decided to move away from soccer’s elite in Europe and continue his career in the United States.
However, despite the incalculable sense of euphoria that he has caused stateside, at a press conference, Gerardo Martino stated that Messi is in line to miss a few games with Miami, and that he will not feature in every match the team play: “It’s something that we are going to have to get used to. He is going to miss at least three games between now and the end of the season. He’s going to be called up by his national team but we have to keep winning”, he said.
