Messi lifts Inter Miami into CONCACAF Champions Cup semis
Lionel Messi’s second goal of the night, an 84th-minute penalty kick, capped Inter Miami’s 3-1 win over Los Angeles FC on Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., sending the Herons to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
Inter Miami won the two-leg, total-goal semifinal series 3-2, rallying after LAFC earned a 1-0 home victory last week. The Herons’ opponent in the two-legged semifinal will the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Los Angeles went up 2-0 on aggregate when Aaron Long scored in the ninth minute, but goals from Messi in the 35th minute and Noah Allen off a Messi assist in the 61st leveled the series 2-2.
A video review led to a handball call against Mark Delgado, setting up the decisive penalty kick. Messi calmly kicked the ball into the top right corner.
Early on, a scramble in the Miami penalty area following a corner kick saw the ball fall to Long, who fired in a right-footed volley from 10 yards out.
Messi took a pass near the top of the LAFC 18-yard box, dribbled wide of a defender and knocked home a left-footed shot for his first goal of the night.
After the hour mark, Allen took a pass from Messi outside the Los Angeles penalty area and chipped the ball toward the net. The ball eluded everyone and bounced into the net.
Whitecaps 2, Pumas UNAM 2
Tristan Blackmon’s goal in the third minute of second-half stoppage time gave Vancouver a draw on the night at Mexico City, and the Whitecaps eliminated Pumas on the away-goal tiebreaker after the teams finished the two legs level at 3-3.
After Ignacio Pussetto gave Pumas a lead in the 88th minute, Vancouver chased for an equalizer. Edier Ocampo lofted a cross into the middle from the end line on the right side, and Blackmon beat his defender to the ball and fired a right-footed shot into the top netting.
Minutes earlier, Pumas’ Ruben Duarte sent a cross in front of the Vancouver goal, and Pussetto’s header was saved by the Whitecaps’ Yohei Takaoka. The rebound bounced quickly out to Pussetto, who volleyed the ball into the net.
The teams traded first-half goals, with Sebastian Berhalter putting Vancouver on top in the 33rd minute before Guillermo Martinez scored four minutes later.—Reuters
