FOXBOROUGH ― Almost eight years ago, nearly 60,000 soccer fans descended on Gillette Stadium to see Lionel Messi play his first match in New England.
On that day, Messi netted two assists and scored the go-ahead goal to guide Argentina past Venezuela out of the quarterfinals of the Copa América Centenario.
Fast forward to Saturday and Messi did it again, scoring twice and notching an assist to fuel Inter Miami past the New England Revolution, 4-1, in front of a record-breaking 65,612 fans.
Tomas Chancalay gave the hosts an early jolt of energy when he got on the end of a perfectly-weighted lofted pass from Carles Gil.
With Miami’s keeper rushing out to meet him at the outer corner of the box, Chancalay played the ball first time, chipping it over the keeper and wheeling away to celebrate as the ball rolled across the goal line inside the first minute of the match.
The Revs fed off Chancalay’s goal and looked likely to score again, but with a player of Messi’s caliber in their lineup, Miami remained as dangerous as ever.
Messi registered his first shot on target in the 30th minute before delivering for the visitors soon after in the 32nd minute.
Robert Taylor made a strong but successful challenge on Matt Polser, dispossessing him on the edge of the box inside the Revs’ half. Taylor quickly played Messi into the box and without missing a beat, Messi took a touch to control before firing the ball into the bottom right-hand corner.
The two sides remained level well into the second half, but the visitors‘ influence on the match snowballed after the break.
The deadlock was broken in the 68th minute when Messi collected his second goal of the day when former FC Barcelona teammate Sergio Busquets found him cutting through the box, rifling a low-driven pass into open space inside the box. Messi met the ball first and fired it past the Revs’ keeper calmly to put the visitors ahead, 2-1.
Miami pressed its advantage through the final minutes of the match and were rewarded twice more. While Messi will not officially be given credit with a goal contribution, it was Messi’s shot on goal in the 83rd minute that Revs’ goalkeeper Henrich Ravas made an impressive save on before Benjamin Cremaschi put away the rebound to double the visitors’ advantage.
With the game nearly wrapped, Luis Suarez managed to get on the score sheet in the 89th minute when Messi found Suarez just inside the box and the Uruguayan forward clipped a curling effort into the left-side netting, sealing the victory for the Herons.
New England coach Caleb Porter was encouraged by the team’s start and initial success in keeping Miami quiet.
“Good start, got (one goal) in the first half, after the goal we had them locked up pretty good,” Porter said. “They weren’t getting many chances, they weren’t finding a lot of time and space to operate. But then Messi did what he does and he found a crack.
“(Messi) didn’t have a ton of touches or effectiveness early on in the game, but that’s kind of him, he lulls you. But I thought it was a game where we were doing well, we were defending well and I just think in those first two goals, we got to do better when they pop a ball through our back four.”
Porter praised newly-arrived Xavier Arreaga for stepping into the starting lineup on short notice, playing the full 90 minutes for the Revs on Saturday.
“(Arreaga) is a player, he’s a good player,” Porter said. “He’s gonna be a great addition for us. He’s only been here two days, (but) you saw his quality (tonight) on the ball, defensively, everything.”
Multiple Revs players were late scratches from the match-day squad due to flu-like symptoms and a few players who suited up were still recovering.
“It was a tough 24 hours for us, I’m sure you guys know that,” Porter said. “We lost two guys in the starting lineup - we had planned to start Aljaž (Ivačič) in goal and Esmir (Bajraktarević) on the wing, so we lose two guys literally right before the match and then a couple guys on the bench as well, so that’s not ideal but it’s not excuse.”
New England falls to 1-1-7 with four points on the season and remains in last place in the Eastern Conference.