On the morning of February 20, Messi scored a beautiful goal to help Inter Miami beat Sporting Kansas City 1-0 in the first leg of the first round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup, in cold weather conditions of minus 13 degrees Celsius at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City (USA).
Messi opens his goal account in the 2025 season
According to the American press, this is the coldest match in Messi’s career. The Argentine star has never had to play in such harsh weather conditions, including his long time playing for Barcelona and PSG in Europe before.

Despite the unfavorable weather conditions and hard pitch, coach Mascherano still took the risk of sending Messi to the field from the start with veteran striker Suarez in attack, because the famous player always wanted to play in the opening match of Inter Miami’s season.

In addition, the team, chaired and co-owned by David Beckham, also started with new faces such as strikers Tadeo Allende and Telasco Segovia. Veteran midfielder Sergio Busquets also started from the start, they were only without defender Jordi Alba due to a suspension from last season.

With a strong squad, including the appearance of excellent central defender Gonzalo Lujan alongside two rising young stars Tomas Aviles and Noah Allen (both 20 years old), Inter Miami played very solidly at home. Before launching many sharp attacks to overwhelm Sporting Kansas City right from the first half of the match. However, unfortunately, both Messi and Suarez had many scoring opportunities in the first 45 minutes, but their shots were not on target.

In the second half, Inter Miami maintained strong pressure against Sporting Kansas City. In the 56th minute, from a beautiful pass by Busquets, the attack on the home field was transformed, allowing Messi to escape and dribble past the opposing defenders, then shoot diagonally with his weaker right foot to score a beautiful opening goal of 1-0.

Messi’s goal boosted Inter Miami’s morale, overcoming the weather difficulties. They controlled the match extremely firmly, successfully defending their favorable 1-0 victory after 90 minutes of courageous play. In the final minutes, Sporting Kansas City players increased the pressure in hopes of finding an equalizer, but failed.

This first-leg win will give Inter Miami an advantage when they host Sporting Kansas City in the second leg at home at 8:00 a.m. on February 26 to increase their chances of reaching the round of 16 of the CONCACAF Champions Cup. If they advance, Messi and his teammates will only face a weaker opponent, the Cavalier Club (from Jamaica), and can fully hope to advance to the quarterfinals and aim for the championship.

Alternating the second leg with Sporting Kansas City, Inter Miami will play the opening match of the 2025 MLS season against New York City FC at 7:30 a.m. on February 23.