Lionel Messi, Inter Miami suffer first-round MLS Cup playoff exit

Lionel Messi is out of the MLS Cup playoffs.

Messi and Inter Miami, the trophy favorite and Supporters Shield winner who set a record for regular season points in 2024, were eliminated from MLS Cup contention on Saturday by ninth-seeded Atlanta United, which stunned Miami 3-2 at home in the final match of the first round, best-of-three-game series.

Miami took an early lead before falling behind later in the first half. Messi pulled the hosts level midway through the second, but Atlanta midfielder Bartosz Slisz scored the eventual game-winner with about a quarter-hour of regular time remaining:

As he has been throughout the postseason, Guzan, the 40-year-old former English Premier League and U.S. national team veteran and the second-oldest active player in MLS, was a brick wall in goal for his team.

Guzan made eight saves on Saturday, including several stops on Messi. Miami began the match without Sergio Busquets, Messi's longtime teammate at Spanish club Barcelona. Busquets, who had experienced flu-like symptoms on the eve of the contest, came off the bench shortly after Slisz's goal but couldn't help his squad find a third.

Miami's first-round exit is a significant blow for Messi, who earlier this month called winning the American and Canadian League's most coveted prize the Herons' No. 1 priority.

"That's the real title that we want, MLS Cup," Messi said on the eve of the playoffs in an interview with 433. "We're going to fight for that." 

Messi's second season in the United States was a marked improvement on his first, though, when he arrived mid-season six months removed from a legacy cementing 2022 World Cup win and instantly propelled Miami to the inaugural Leagues Cup crown ahead of 46 other MLS and top-flight