Lionel Messi was on target again as Inter Miami surged into the CONCACAF Champions Cup last 16 with a 3-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City winning the tie 4-1 on aggregate.
Messi scored in the 1-0 first-leg win in icy Kansas City last week and it took him only 19 minutes to find the target at a much warmer Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale in the return.
Messi’s former Barcelona team-mate Luis Suarez chipped the ball across to the Argentine, who was given too much space by the Sporting defence and punished them by burying the ball into the bottom corner.
The visitors thought that they had levelled when Dejan Joveljic, a recent signing from Los Angeles Galaxy, had the ball in the net after rounding Miami keeper Oscar Ustari, but the striker was ruled offside.
