Messi, Suarez play 2 away matches for Inter Miami, set MLS shirt sales record

Messi, who has just recovered from injury, had his first match back after a 2-month absence, but played the full 90 minutes in Inter Miami's 3-1 win over Philadelphia Union on September 15. In this match, Messi scored twice and contributed 1 assist to Suarez to seal the score.

Messi shows that he is very energetic after just returning to competition.

However, the fact that this famous player and his close friend, Suarez, both 37 years old, are about to play 2 more consecutive away matches within 1 week is quite rare since they both played for Inter Miami. Physical barriers, injury effects and age are the reasons why Messi and Suarez have rarely played 2 consecutive matches with a frequency of 3 days/match in the past year.

Inter Miami will play Atlanta United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium at 6:30 a.m. on September 19. Next, they travel to Yankee Stadium to play New York City FC at 1 a.m. on September 22. Both away games attracted huge crowds of 50,000 or more, according to MLS Moves on social network X (formerly Twitter), due to the presence of both Messi and Suarez.

Atlanta United is currently ranked 10th in MLS, but beat Inter Miami 3-1 in the first leg at Chase Stadium. Meanwhile, New York City FC is ranked 6th, tied 1-1 with Inter Miami in the first leg. Both teams are still in the race for a spot in the MLS Cup playoffs at the end of October.

Messi and Suarez both participated in the away match, causing fans in Atlanta and New York to rush to buy tickets to watch.

Meanwhile, Inter Miami have already secured a spot in the playoffs. They are aiming to win the Supporters' Shield, awarded to the team with the best record in the MLS points round, thanks to their strong results in other matches. Inter Miami have won 19 matches, drawn 5 and lost only 4, ranking 1st in the MLS standings.

Most of Inter Miami's key wins have come during Messi's absence (a total of three months, from June 1 to August 31), with eight wins and just one loss. Messi's recent return (a win over Philadelphia Union) was his ninth.

This streak of achievements helps Inter Miami in the remaining 6 matches in the MLS qualifying round, only need to win 3 more matches to secure the Supporters' Shield championship. This may be the reason why coach Tata Martino decided to bring both Messi and Suarez on the tour for 2 consecutive matches this week. Thereby, hoping to maintain the current winning streak, before returning home to host Charlotte FC (at 6:30 on September 29), to soon complete the goal of owning the Supporters' Shield championship title.

Messi is still at the top of the list of jersey sales for the entire 2024 MLS season so far.

In the same development, the MLS (USA) organizing committee announced that Messi's return has caused a fever among fans across the US, who continue to hunt for this famous player's jersey, causing the number of jerseys sold to skyrocket.

Messi still holds the No. 1 position as the player with the most jerseys sold so far in the 2024 MLS season, despite his absence for the past 3 months. Next is Suarez in 2nd place. The remaining two famous players of Inter Miami, Busquets and Jordi Alba, are ranked 11th and 15th respectively, to become the club with the most players with the most jerseys sold in the MLS jersey rankings.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/messi-suarez-thi-dau-2-tran-san-khach-cua-inter-miami-lap-ky-luc-ban-ao-mls-185240918132135012.htm