Messi's unfinished business with Inter Miami

Leo Messi has won everything there is to win in the world of football, be it with Barcelona, PSG and the Argentina national team. But in his new adventure in Miami he is going to find himself in an unprecedented situation in his career: being at the bottom of his league. Messi has always been in top teams and it is something that critics blame on the comparison with Diego Maradona: leading a team that is not designed to win to do so.

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The Leagues Cup, a competition contested by MLS and Liga MX clubs, is Messi's first chance to lift his first title with Inter Miami as captain of the club. Wins over Cruz Azul (1-2) and Atlanta United (4-0) have seen the Florida side qualify for the Round of 16. From there, there are four games until the final on 19 August. LAFC and Pachuca will be Inter Miami's most dangerous opponents. They could meet the Mexicans in a hypothetical quarter-final.

But in the round of 32, Messi's side would meet either Orlando City or Santos Laguna. The Americans are in the same conference as Leo's side and are 19 points ahead of them, while the Mexicans have won just one of their last three games in the Apertura MX. In addition, in the last Clausura, Santos Laguna finished at the bottom of the table (13th out of 18 teams). Therefore, they look like a more feasible opponent for Inter Miami. On 29 July, Messi's first direct play-off opponent since arriving in the United States will be decided.

Should he achieve the feat of lifting the Leagues Cup title with Inter Miami, he would become the first player from an MLS club to lift the trophy. In the previous two editions, Cruz Azul (2019) and Leon (2021) won the final. The 2020 and 2022 editions were not played because of the coronavirus pandemic and the World Cup in Qatar, respectively. In this way, Messi could put an end to Mexico's hegemony in the competition.

Inter Miami, moreover, is a newly formed club. Beckham took over the club in 2018 and since then, the closest they have come to lifting a title is with a sixth-place finish in the last MLS. However, they lost in the first round of the playoffs to New York City 3-0. Thus, this Leagues Cup 2023 can serve Messi to make history again. This time on the other side of the pond.

Winning a title with the bottom team

The big challenge ahead for Messi will not be easy. Inter Miami are 15th, bottom of the Eastern Conference, with 18 points. D.C. United, ninth in the standings and the Playoffs' cutoff, are 12 points clear of Leo's side. Washington, however, have two more games in hand. Inter Miami still have 12 more games to play, which translates into 36 points.

Format change benefits Inter Miami

In 2022, MLS changed its competition format. Previously, the first-place finisher from each conference would advance directly to the conference semifinals, and the second through seventh place finishers would play three playoffs (2nd VS 7th, 3rd VS 6th and 4th VS 5th) to determine the other three semifinalists. With this format in the current campaign, Inter Miami would be 17 points behind seventh-placed Atlanta United in MLS 2023.

This season, however, has undergone changes. Now the top two finishers from each conference are not guaranteed a place in the semi-finals, and will have to play in the 1st Round against the 8th or 9th, who will play a Play In between them to see who will face the conference leader. The ninth place is what Tata Martino's team will be looking for in order to enter the fight for the MLS title.

An easy schedule but with pitfalls

Of Inter Miami's 12 remaining games, only one, the match against Cincinnati, is against one of the top three teams in the league. That pivotal match would be on 7 October. In addition to the bottom three, Leo Messi will face Toronto. Both teams are from his conference. The Argentinian star will face Nashville, who have conceded the fewest goals in the league with 22 goals in 24 games.