Lionel Messi will feel like he was robbed of a goal in the first half of Inter Miami`s Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal second leg against LAFC on Wednesday. So he decided to take matters into his own feet. Moments after putting a free kick in the back of the net only to see the ref disallow the goal, the Argentina legend scored an absolute golazo against Hugo Lloris, the goalkeeper he put two past in the 2022 World Cup final.
Messi took a free kick in the first half, and just as Lloris was setting up his wall, the ref walked away from the set-piece area, with Messi curling the ball into the far side of the goal. Lloris wasn`t ready, but Messi was, yet the ref didn`t appear to blow a whistle to signal for Messi to go ahead. However, the ref did point toward midfield after the shot, signaling a goal. He would change his mind about a minute later, making Messi redo the free kick, and it hit the wall.
That`s a tough one. I can see both sides of this — Messi, who looks set to remain with Inter Miami, saw the ref walk away and assumed he was good to go, and the ref was fine with it as he awarded the goal initially. Lloris was setting up his wall and was, as usual, waiting for a whistle for play to resume.
Down 1-0 in this game and 2-0 on aggregate, Messi managed to get his team fully back in the tie just moments after the controversial play with this golazo into the upper-right side of the goal:
All in all, 1-1 was a fair score entering the half. But the job is not done for the Herons, with the second half set to decide their fate in the competition.
It was an encouraging start in terms of the attack as Inter produced 12 shots in the opening half, but they`ll need more of the same if they are to survive.
