Lionel Messi scored two goals and set up another for Sergio Busquets as Inter Miami defeated Nashville 3-1 on Saturday to remain at the top of Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference.
Miami faced an early setback when their defender Franco Negri accidentally redirected a corner from Daniel Lovitz into his own net in just the second minute of the game at Chase Stadium.
Gerardo Martino’s team have now failed to maintain a clean sheet in each of their last 11 games, and it could have been worse when three minutes later Josh Bauer blasted a shot against the bar.
But Messi quickly brought Miami level — the Argentine was set free by a clever flick from Diego Gomez, and after Luis Suarez directed the loose ball back to him, Messi slotted it home to make it 1-1 in the 11th minute.
Two minutes later, Messi capitalized on some sloppy play from Nashville, but his low right-foot shot hit the post.
Everything Miami was creating was coming through Messi, who sent a quick shot wide before moments later delivering a cross for a Gomez header which was saved by Panicco’s feet.
Six minutes before the break, Messi’s former Barcelona teammate Busquets found the net for the first time in MLS, meeting the World Cup winner’s corner with a fine glancing header at the near post.
But there was a setback for the home side just before the break when Paraguay international Gomez was carried off with an ankle injury, the latest in a series of injuries for Miami.
His replacement, Brazilian born youngster Leonardo Afonso, had the ball in the net but his effort was disallowed for offside.
Nashville came out strongly after the break, but despite dominating possession for the opening 20 minutes of the half, they had little to show for their efforts other than a couple of off-target long-range attempts from German Hany Mukhtar.
Nine minutes from the end, Miami were able to seal the game when Afonso was judged to have been brought down inside the box by Bauer and Messi scored from the penalty spot.
The goal was Messi’s ninth goal in as many games in all competitions this season for Miami.
Martino was dissatisfied with the way his team had started so slowly.
“Regardless of how lucky their goal was, we didn’t start well in the first few minutes. They were more focused, more intense, they handled the ball better, they pressed,” he said.
“There are a lot of things we need to correct, but I’d like to do it with the full squad. We have seven or eight players out which is a lot in a league as strict as MLS with the roster and budget issues,” he said.
Miami have 18 points from their opening 10 games and Martino said that was a decent return considering the depleted squad he is working with.
“All this happens to us and we have still collected 18 points, which is significantly more than last year at this stage, we will be looking to accumulate points now so that the second part of the year is not as demanding and dramatic as last year,” he said, referring to the ill-fated late chase for a playoff place.
In other MLS action on Saturday, the Columbus Crew had to come from behind twice to secure a 2-2 draw with the Portland Timbers, managed by Phil Neville.
The equalizer came in the 74th minute through an impressive long-distance strike from French full-back Steven Moreira.
Last season’s top team, Cincinnati, claimed a remarkable 2-1 victory over Atlanta United despite initially conceding a beautiful curling shot from Argentine midfielder Thiago Almada in the 59th minute.
The lead only lasted three minutes as current MLS Most Valuable Player Luciano Acosta led Cincinnati on a counter-attack and set up compatriot Luca Orellano to equalize.
Acosta completed a frantic five minutes by scoring the winning goal, tapping in after being found by DeAndre Yedlin.
