FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) 鈥 Lionel Messi had chances at goals time and time again, only to keep being denied. Turns out, all he needed to do was deliver the right pass at the right time.
Jordi Alba turned a pass from Messi in the 60th minute, Luis Suarez also scored and Inter Miami beat Atlanta United 2-1 on Friday night in the opening game of a best-of-three first round Major League Soccer playoff series.
It was not the easiest of openers for the Supporters Shield winners, the No. 1 overall seed in the MLS Cup playoffs 鈥 a team that set a league record with 74 points in the regular season, 34 points ahead of wild-card Atlanta in the standings.
Saba Lobjanidze scored for Atlanta, which got eight saves from goalkeeper Brad Guzan. Game 2 will be Nov. 2 at Atlanta 鈥 the last road game of the season, no matter what, for Inter Miami. Game 3, if necessary, will be Nov. 9 in Fort Lauderdale.
鈥淚t's going to be difficult for us,鈥 Inter Miami coach Gerardo 鈥淭ata鈥 Martino said. 鈥淚t's going to be difficult as this rival has been throughout the season.鈥
Inter Miami's first-ever home playoff game and Messi's MLS playoff debut was sold out 鈥 Messi games almost always are, everywhere in the world 鈥 and MLS even had a camera isolated on him throughout the match, . There were plans to also show the match live on a massive screen in New York's Times Square; that ended up getting called off Apple will schedule a viewing of another match there.
Atlanta was the only team that beat Inter Miami when Messi was in the lineup this season, and it was almost like the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner 鈥 and finalist for MLS MVP honors 鈥 knew it wouldn't be easy.
鈥淚t gets settled on the field,鈥 Messi said in an interview taped before the playoffs, one that and said will be distributed on its Season Pass platform. 鈥淎nything can happen in a match.鈥
And for 60 minutes, the scoreboard said these teams were even.
Suarez scored with the match barely a minute old, and Messi had three high-quality chances later in the half.
Messi's left foot nearly made it 2-0 after six minutes; to barely deflect the shot away. Messi found a bit of space and fired again in the 26th minute; over the crossbar. And in the 29th minute, it wasn't Guzan that denied Messi 鈥 . The rebound came to Inter Miami's Marcelo Weigandt and his shot got punched away by Guzan.
If not for Guzan, it could have been 2-0, 3-0, maybe even 4-0 at that point.
Instead, it was 1-1 at intermission. and beat Drake Callender from close range in the 39th minute, and Atlanta 鈥 which won at Chase Stadium in May 鈥 was all square going into the second half.
鈥淲e were frustrated,鈥 Martino said.
In the 52nd minute, Messi's direct kick from 25 yards nearly gave Inter Miami the lead again but curled just wide of the post to Guzan's left. The breakthrough came about eight minutes later, with Messi getting lifted into the air by Alba in celebration after the goal.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to keep our heads up and we鈥檝e got to go again,鈥 Guzan said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had our backs against the wall for quite some time now. And when our backs have been against the wall, we鈥檝e found a way. Our backs are against the wall now. We鈥檝e got to go into Game 2 and we鈥檝e got to win.鈥
The night took a bad turn for Inter Miami late. Ian Fray, a South Florida native who has already dealt with three ACL tears, left in the 90th minute after a non-contact injury left him unable to put any weight on his right leg. There was no immediate word on the severity of Fray's injury.
鈥淚t was a very good game ... but we're not feeling as satisfied as we could because of Ian,鈥 Martino said. "We are all a little bit sad. We'll wait to see what injury he has.鈥
___
AP soccer:
