{"id":183191,"date":"2026-03-08T13:48:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T13:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/183191\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T13:48:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T13:48:18","slug":"inter-miamis-lionel-messi-delivers-a-goal-and-a-win-in-baltimore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/183191\/","title":{"rendered":"Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi delivers a goal and a win in Baltimore"},"content":{"rendered":"

Join the huddle. Sign up here<\/a> for Ravens updates in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi\u2019s arrival Saturday in Baltimore promised a spectacle and offered a history lesson.<\/p>\n

Lingering around the parking lots, walking through the concourse, bouncing on the seats inside M&T Bank Stadium were Messi fans whose jerseys and scarves almost seemed to make up a rainbow. They chronicled the career of arguably the greatest player in soccer history: the bright pink of Inter Miami; the blue and garnet of Barcelona; the blue, red and white of PSG; the white and sky blue of Argentina. <\/p>\n

This was ostensibly a home game for D.C. United, which had moved its early-season game against Inter Miami<\/a> from Southwest Washington\u2019s Audi Field to Baltimore\u2019s larger confines. In reality, it was another showcase for one of the world\u2019s biggest sporting icons, a reigning World Cup champion with 511 million Instagram followers and the game still at his feet.<\/p>\n

An announced sellout crowd of 72,026, one of the biggest for any match in global soccer this weekend, watched Messi score the 899th goal of his career and his third of this young Major League Soccer season in a 2-1 win. Afterward, he smiled and celebrated with his teammates as he walked off the field, another day of Messi Mania nearing its end. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t usually put too much pressure on him,\u201d Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano, a former teammate of Messi\u2019s at Barcelona, told reporters in Spanish after a second straight win. \u201cMaybe because we have already naturalized everything that Leo generates. So sometimes, when you naturalize things, they seem normal to you. …<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is wonderful, everything that happens with respect to what you were saying about having full stadiums. That football here in the United States is much more competitive. And in that Leo\u2019s arrival has been a determining factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Messi\u2019s presence alone was a blessing for the thousands making a pilgrimage to Baltimore. He missed Inter Miami\u2019s game against D.C. United in Washington last season, his first after a ballyhooed move to MLS, and there was speculation Mascherano would rest the 38-year-old ahead of Thursday\u2019s game in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. That is an important continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

Those fears were misplaced. As Messi took the field for pregame warmups, the buzz built around the field and the stadium. Fans chanted his name. They stood in lines that snaked around the concourse, waiting for admission to the team shop. They wore T-shirts that testified to his \u201cGOAT\u201d status \u2014 the greatest of all time \u2014 and held signs that glorified him as their inspiration.<\/p>\n

Twenty-seven minutes into the match, they were on their feet again. With Inter Miami leading 1-0, Messi slipped behind D.C. United\u2019s back line as midfielder Mateo Silvetti fed him a pass that he took near the edge of the 6-yard box. The rest was second nature. As Sean Johnson closed in on Messi, he dinked the ball over the goalkeeper\u2019s left shoulder with his first touch. It fluttered into the back of the net, one more for Messi\u2019s highlight reel. <\/p>\n

Thousands of fans, even those dressed in D.C. United colors, stood to applaud the eight-time winner of Ballon d\u2019Or, awarded to the world\u2019s best player. A group of young teenage boys in Inter Miami jerseys, all with \u201cMessi\u201d emblazoned on the back, popped their shirts as if they\u2019d just scored themselves. <\/p>\n

Ten minutes later, Messi nearly conjured more magic. Driving in from the right wing, he bypassed one D.C. United defender, accelerated past a second, then watched as the ball skipped beyond his control. But Messi regained possession almost as quickly as he lost it, stepping in front of an outlet pass from defensive midfielder Brandon Servania and settling the ball as if it were magnetized to his cleats.<\/p>\n

\"\"Messi fans brought a range of colors to the stadium on Saturday. (Ulysses Mu\u00f1oz\/The Banner)<\/p>\n

Messi took one touch into a pocket of space, then another, then looked for the far corner as he reared back to fire. He nearly found it. His shot zoomed just wide of the post, inches away from making him only the second men\u2019s player ever with 900 goals. <\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s the best player in the world ever, so it\u2019s impossible to stop him for 90 minutes,\u201d D.C. United coach Ren\u00e9 Weiler had said before the game. \u201cBut we have to try.\u201d<\/p>\n

D.C. United punched back in the second half, seizing control of possession and nearly equalizing before the final whistle. But the late-game drama was secondary to the Messi experience. <\/p>\n

Fans held their breath when the ball reached his left foot. They shouted in distress when he was knocked off it. They cheered his crosses, his feints, his shots. They got 90-plus minutes of Messi, and they could leave Saturday night knowing he\u2019d delivered on the evening\u2019s spectacle. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Join the huddle. Sign up here for Ravens updates in your inbox. Lionel Messi\u2019s arrival Saturday in Baltimore…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[20485,86301,34246,17147,5429,1660,14236,123,125,124,86302],"class_list":["post-183191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-city","tag-d-c-united","tag-dc-united","tag-inter-miami-cf","tag-lionel-messi","tag-messi","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-ravens-stadium"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}