Lionel Messi’s first trip to an official match in Mexico did not end well for the Argentine star.
Brandon Vázquez, Germán Berterame and Jesús Gallardo scored as Monterrey beat Inter Miami 3-1 in the second leg of the quarterfinals on Wednesday, advancing in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
“I am happy and happy because the fans deserved it, we went through a difficult series against a great rival,” said Argentine Fernando Ortiz, coach of Monterrey. “We passed the round, but we haven’t won anything, we just eliminated a great rival… Messi is the best player in the history of sport.”
Vázquez opened the scoring in the 31st minute, Berterame added the score in the 58th and Gallardo made the score 3-0 in the 64th.
The victory on their home court gave the Rayados an overall score of 5-2 and a ticket to the semifinals.
Paraguayan Diego Gómez scored the goal of honor for the visitors in the 85th minute.
Messi, who played two friendly matches in Mexico in 2011 and one in 2006, missed the opportunity to put Inter Miami in the semifinals of this tournament, a place he has never reached.
The 36-year-old Argentine star won the Leagues Cup in the middle of last year and was aiming to win his second tournament since signing with Miami a year ago.
He started Wednesday, but had only one scoring opportunity in the first half.
Eight times awarded the Ballon d’Or, Messi only returned last week after a hamstring injury that had sidelined him from the field since March 13, when he had to leave the Champions Cup match against Nashville.
“We competed well with Nashville in the first game, with Monterrey in the first and today before Berterame’s goal, because that was the end of the tie,” explained Miami’s Argentine coach, Gerardo Martino. “It ends up being fair that Monterrey ends up happening globally.”
On Saturday, in his reappearance, Messi entered the second half of the MLS game against Colorado, and scored a goal in a 2-2 draw.
Monterrey, the team with the highest payroll in Liga MX, will face the Columbus Crew in the top four phase.
The day before, Colón won on penalties and as a visitor against Tigres, Monterrey’s metropolitan rival.
“Today’s defeat takes away our dream of being able to move forward in this competition and replicate what Columbus did in Monterrey,” said “Tata” Martino.
The other semifinal will be a duel between Mexican teams. América, the current champion in Mexico, will play against Pachuca.
TUZOS ELIMINATE HEREDIANO
With goals from Bryan González and Venezuelan Salomón Rondón, Pachuca defeated Herediano of Costa Rica 2-1 on Wednesday and met with América in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
González opened the scoring in the 47th minute and Rondón added a score in the 59th for the Tuzos, who advanced with an aggregate score of 7-1.
Rondón, in his first tournament with the Tuzos, has seven goals in this edition of the Champions Cup and is the top scorer.
The team led by Uruguayan Guillermo Almada is in its first semifinals of this tournament since the 2016-17 season when it won its fifth regional club title.
Herediano was shipwrecked in its fight to return to the semifinals, an event it had not reached since the 2014-15 edition.
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