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 Mexican teams.

But the GOAT got injured down the stench in 2023, and Miami missed the playoffs. Tata Martino's side was the pole-setter from start to finish this year, however, even without the Argentine legend, who missed a third of the season either representing the Albiceleste or recovering from the ankle injury he suffered in the Copa América title match that Argentina won in July.

Even without MLS Cup, this season was a success for Messi and Inter Miami. In addition to earning an unprecedented 74 regular season points, the Supporters' Shield triumph prompted global soccer's governing body FIFA to award the Herons a berth in next year's expanded Club World Cup. Miami will host the opening match of that competition at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

Messi, who is entering the final year of his MLS contract, is expected to join his national team next week for World Cup qualifiers against Paraguay and Peru. 

Miami's 2025 season kicks off next February.

Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports. A staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he has covered United States men's and women's national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.