Lionel Messi and Inter Miami have another trophy, along with home advantage throughout the Major League Soccer playoffs.
Messi scored twice in the final minutes of the first half, goalie Drake Callender stopped a penalty kick in the 84th minute and Inter Miami beat the defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew 3-2 on Wednesday, wrapping up the Supporters Shield given annually to the team with the best regular-season record.
It was Messi’s 46th major trophy won for club or country, extending his record for the most by any men’s football player in history. And it is the second he has won with Inter Miami, this Supporters Shield being added to the Leagues Cup trophy the Herons claimed shortly after Messi joined the club.
“We knew this was a group that could fight for this,” Messi said.
Luis Suarez also scored for Inter Miami, which will open a best-of-three first-round playoff series in the final weekend of October. If the team wins that series, it will have the right to host every match it plays the rest of the season — an Eastern Conference semi-final, the East final and the MLS Cup final.