CONCACAF CHAMPIONS CUP
What is Lionel Messi’s biggest defeat with Inter Miami?
Messi’s Inter Miami are out of the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup after losing 3-1 to Monterrey in Mexico.
Inter Miami’s hopes of winning the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup are over after they were comfortably defeated in the quarter-final second leg by Liga MX side Monterrey at Estadio BBVA.
Rayados make light work of Inter Miami in quarter-finals
Rayados led 2-1 from the first leg at Chase Park in Miami, a match key Herons star Lionel Messi didn’t feature in having only just recovered from a hamstring issue. The Argentina captain did, however, play from the start in Mexico but was powerless to prevent his team from exciting the competition.
With Monterrey 3-0 ahead (thanks to goals from Brandon Vázquez, Germán Berterame and Jesús Gallardo) after 64 minutes, it looked as if Gerardo “Tata” Martino’s team could be staring down an especially heavy defeat, especially after Jordi Alba was sent off for a second booking with 12 minutes left on the clock.
But the MLS side actually reduced the deficit in the closing stages, Messi teeing up Diego Gómez for a consolation goal, with took the aggregate score to 5-2 for Monterrey. Rayados will now face Columbus Crew in the semi-finals, with América facing Pachuca in the other last-four clash.
How many defeats has Messi suffered with Inter Miami? What is his biggest ever loss?
Despite Gómez’s strike, the 3-1 defeat is the heaviest Messi has been involved in since moving to Inter Miami in July 2023. Before Wednesday’s game, he hadn’t lost a competitive fixture in 2024, missing the MLS reverses to Montreal (2-3) and New York City FC (0-4), as well as last week’s first leg against Monterrey.
In the 2023 season, he played in two 1-0 defeats in MLS against Cincinnati and Charlotte right at the end of the season, sitting out heavy losses to Atlanta United and Chicago Fire because of injury, along with the US Open Cup final, which Houston Dynamo won 2-1.
The 3-1 defeat in Monterrey may be Messi’s biggest defeat in an Inter Miami jersey to date, but it pales in comparison to his lowest moment while at Barcelona. In the 2019/20 Champions League, Barça were memorably thrashed 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, a one-off match that season due to the covid-19 pandemic.