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 into the go-ahead goal 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 and No. 1 overall seed in the MLS Cup playoffs, 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 — the last road game of the season, no matter what, for Inter Miami. Game 3, if necessary, will be Nov. 9 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
“It’s going to be difficult for us,” Inter Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino said. “It’s going to be difficult as this rival has been throughout the season.”
Instead, it was 1-1 at intermission. Lobjanidze got behind the defense and beat Drake Callender from close range in the 39th minute, and Atlanta — which won at Chase Stadium in May — was all square going into the second half.
“We were frustrated,” 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.
“We’ve got to keep our heads up, and we’ve got to go again,” Guzan said. “We’ve had our backs against the wall for quite some time now. And when our backs have been against the wall, we’ve found a way. Our backs are against the wall now. We’ve got to go into Game 2, and we’ve got to win.”
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 noncontact injury left him unable to put any weight on his right leg. There was no immediate word on the severity of Fray’s injury.
“It was a very good game … but we’re not feeling as satisfied as we could because of Ian,” Martino said. “We are all a little bit sad. We’ll wait to see what injury he has.”
