Messi's amazing assist on De Paul's debut helped Inter Miami win their first League Cup match

On the morning of July 31, Messi immediately scored two assists on his return to competition after a one-match suspension. He and Rodrigo De Paul made their debut, helping Inter Miami defeat Atlas Club (Mexico) 2-1 in the opening match of the Leagues Cup.

Messi wins MLS Player of the Month for the fourth time

Messi begins his campaign to win the Leagues Cup (a tournament that includes clubs in MLS in the US and Liga MX from Mexico), after receiving his second MLS Player of the Month award in the 2025 season. This is the fourth time he has won the award since coming to the US to play in MLS, and the sixth player to achieve this feat in the history of the tournament.

Messi (center) continues to shine, as Inter Miami adds Rodrigo De Paul to the midfield

Photo: Reuters

The return of Messi and expensive new midfielder De Paul in time to play after being granted a work visa in the US, helped Inter Miami possess an extremely strong and balanced squad. Among them, including striker Suarez, midfielder Sergio Busquets and veteran defender Jordi Alba all played from the start of the match.

In the first half, if the chances were more precise, Inter Miami could have led their Mexican opponents Atlas by at least 1-0. In particular, veteran striker Suarez missed 2 good chances, with one of them hitting the crossbar.

The situation only changed in the second half, when Messi shone at the right time to help the home team overcome the difficulties when he made a beautiful assist right in the penalty area for striker Telasco Segovia to score in the 57th minute to open the score 1-0. However, Atlas showed that they are not an easy opponent. This Mexican team played with great effort and found the equalizer 1-1 in the 80th minute through player Rivaldo Lozano.

This equalizer seemed to bring the match to a penalty shootout to decide the winner. But in the extra minutes, Messi spoke up again with a beautiful arrangement and assisted defender Marcelo Weigandt to score in the 90+6 minute to help Inter Miami lead the score 2-1. This goal caused controversy, but after reviewing VAR, the referee recognized the goal, when determining that neither Messi nor Weigandt were in an offside position in the development leading up to the goal.

Messi shines again to help Inter Miami win the first match of Leagues Cup 2025

Photo: Reuters

This result helped Inter Miami to win the first important match in the Leagues Cup group stage, with 3 full points. Thanks to that, they rose to the top of the MLS team table to secure 1 of 4 spots in the knockout round. In the next match, Messi and Inter Miami will meet the Mexican club Necaxa at 6am on August 3rd, also at home.

This year's Leagues Cup has a change in format, with 18 MLS clubs, each team will play 3 matches against 18 Liga MX clubs through a draw. For example, Inter Miami will play Necaxa after the match against Atlas and the final match against UNAM. Each win in 90 minutes will be awarded 3 points, a draw will be sent to penalties, with the winning team receiving 2 points and the losing team receiving 1 point.

The top four teams from both MLS and Liga MX groups will advance to the quarterfinals, with the two leagues alternating between teams. This will be followed by the semi-finals, the final, and the third-place match.

Messi and Inter Miami won their first match, giving them a huge advantage going forward, after most of the other MLS clubs had unsuccessful starts, with Columbus Crew and Los Angeles FC only having 1 point, and CF Montreal having 2 points.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/messi-kien-tao-xuat-than-ngay-de-paul-ra-mat-inter-miami-thang-tran-dau-leagues-cup-185250731091836643.htm