Inter Miami 3-1 LA Galaxy: Super-sub Messi earns late win

Lionel Messi came off the bench to score and assist as he helped Inter Miami to a late 3-1 win over LA Galaxy in MLS on Saturday.

Miami started brightly and almost opened the scoring 11 minutes in as Luis Suarez got in front of his marker in the box, but fired his shot against the near post.

Telasco Segovia latched onto a brilliant backheel cross and turned it into the net from close range, but he had drifted offside, with the goal disallowed.

Jordi Alba finally got Miami a deserved lead two minutes before the break as he latched onto Sergio Busquets’ throughball before coolly slotting past Novak Micovic.

However, Miami were pegged back by the Galaxy in the 59th minute thanks to a stunning solo goal from Joseph Paintsil. He cut inside from the left, weaving past three defenders before drilling in from a very tight angle, with Oscar Ustari unable to keep it out.

Javier Mascherano’s side continued to push with no luck until the 84th minute when Messi dribbled past two Galaxy players to the edge of the box before curling his low shot into the bottom-left corner.

And he played his part in their third goal five minutes later as well. His stunning backheel flick from Rodrigo De Paul’s pass to Suarez set the Uruguayan up to slot his effort under Micovic and into the far bottom corner to secure the win.

Miami are fifth in the Eastern Conference, while the Galaxy are bottom of the West after their 16th defeat of the season.

MIAMI WINS pic.twitter.com/IahXSDazDj

— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) August 17, 2025

Data Debrief: Messi to the rescue

Miami were grateful to their star man, as Messi netted his 19th league goal of the season, a league high, and eighth assist.

Overall, it was his 875th career goal, and he is the quickest to reach that feat, doing so in 1,116 matches.

The Herons had chances to win it before then, though, accumulating 3.49 expected goals (xG) from their 29 efforts, eight of which were on target. The Galaxy, in contrast, had 0.37 xG from five shots (three on target).