It took Lionel Messi just 22 minutes to earn himself a first half brace against Atlanta United as Messi made his first ever MLS start last night with Inter Miami. Messi would finish the night with two goals and an assist, and imposed his will against The Five Stripes.
Earlier today The Morning Shift gave their thoughts on Atlanta United’s opening match in Leagues Cup, and explained why Atlanta looked starstruck against arguably the best soccer player in the world last night.
“I expected a better match. I expected a lot more effort out of our side. I thought that there was going to be this moment where Atlanta United kind of rises to this challenge and takes the chip on their shoulder about being down in Miami and all the attention being on Messi, and they play a physical brand of soccer and they’re able to kind of come together. Atlanta United at times last night they looked like they didn’t even know each other. They looked like they were the team that had just been put together ten days ago.” Mike Johnson said.
Beau Morgan then asked Mike if United looked starstruck last night and Mike responded by saying “Yea, they looked starstruck. I think it’s a great way to put it.” Beau would go on to say that Messi is “still in his prime and we saw it last night”.
Having Messi in MLS is great for MLS, and the fact he put on a show last night is also great for MLS, but when Messi and Inter Miami come to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on September 16th you just hope The Five Stripes can keep up.