Lionel Messi won a record second straight MLS Golden Boot with 26 goals, but Inter Miami let a 3-0 half-time lead slip in a 3-3 draw with Charlotte on the final day. Miami have won four of their last 12 league games and two of their last five.
Miami, Florida: Inter Miami had a playoff place secured and a three-goal lead at half-time of Saturday’s regular-season finale at Nu Stadium. They finished the night with a draw and a warning about their defending, even as Messi’s season earned the league’s top individual prize again.
Three goals before the break
Miami scored three times in 42 minutes. Lionel Messi’s corner in the 14th minute was deflected towards goal by Charlotte’s Luca de la Torre, and Ian Fray volleyed it in from close range. Messi took another corner in the 33rd minute, German Berterame flicked it across goal, and Luis Suárez finished at the far post. Rodrigo De Paul added the third in the 42nd minute with a low drive from long range into the bottom corner.
Abada drags Charlotte back
Charlotte had a goal ruled out by VAR for handball in the fifth minute. They found their way back after the interval. Liel Abada scored in the 50th minute when Tyger Smalls volleyed Ashley Westwood’s ball back across the box, and again in the 55th after a one-two with Pep Biel, finishing into the bottom corner. Smalls struck the post in the 90th minute, and Rodolfo Aloko followed up the rebound to level. Messi, who had two assists but no goal, hit the post in stoppage time and could not find a winner.
Messi’s second Golden Boot
Messi finished the regular season with 26 goals and 17 assists, four goals clear of FC Dallas’s Petar Musa, who scored 22, to win the Golden Boot for a second straight year. He is the first player to win the award in back-to-back seasons.
Seeding is safe, form is not
Miami finished second in the East with 60 points from 16 wins, 12 draws and six defeats, and they have home-field advantage at least through the first two playoff rounds. They open a best-of-three series against seventh-seeded Columbus Crew. The wins have been scattered. Across their last 12 league games Miami have four wins, six draws and two defeats, the defeats coming at Columbus on 27 September and against the Red Bulls on 24 October. Only two of their last five were wins, the 2-1 win at New England and a 3-1 win at Atlanta, with a 2-2 draw with Cincinnati in between.
Full time: Inter Miami 3 (Fray 14’, Suárez 33’, De Paul 42’), Charlotte FC 3 (Abada 50’, 55’; Aloko 90’). MLS regular season, final matchday, Nu Stadium, Miami.
