Mitrovic plotting how to stop Messi-led Miami

Marko Mitrovic urged his New England Revolution side to embrace the challenge of stopping “the best player in history” when they take on Lionel Messi and Inter Miami in Saturday’s MLS road trip.

The Revs have won their last four league games after winning 2-1 away at Atlanta United and recording their first road win of the 2026 campaign.

They will have to follow that up with another strong performance away from home if they are to escape Nu Stadium with all three points, and Mitrovic is acutely aware of one special player to keep an eye on.

“We have to recover ourselves. We have a game in 72 hours,” Mitrovic said after the Atlanta win on Wednesday.

“We all know who Lionel Messi is. I think people have been trying for 25 years to figure out how to play against him, and with not much success so far.

“But I know one thing is we have to behave as a team in that game, knowing that we are facing a great team that is an [MLS Cup] champion, and that has arguably the best player in the history of this game.

“That’s another challenge that we are going to embrace and face, and another opportunity for us to grow our mentality and our game.”

3. Watch it back pic.twitter.com/36vmX0ApIP

— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) April 23, 2026

The Revs’ impressive run of form has lifted them to third in the Eastern Conference, three points behind Miami, who have played a game more to reach their second-place standing.

“It’s great to win four games in a row, and it’s really not easy. It’s a massive achievement. However, we are still not going to give up on what we want to do, which is to go day by day, and game by game,” Mitrovic added.

“In any given moment, there is a possibility that some of the teams can have opportunities to score goals. So, no matter what the score is, we just have to keep going.”

Miami were also victors in their last MLS outing, beating Real Salt Lake 2-0 away from home thanks to late goals from Rodrigo De Paul and Luis Suarez.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Inter Miami – Lionel Messi

As Mitrovic pointed out, New England’s success will largely revolve around how they quieten the control that Messi has on this game.

The Argentina legend has scored seven times in eight MLS outings this season, though he failed to find the net with any of his 10 shots (four on target) in the victory away at RSL.

He did score twice in the game before against the Colorado Rapids, however.

New England Revolution – Peyton Miller

Peyton Miller will surely be pushing for a starting spot for this clash, having scored the winner against Atlanta.

That took the Revs’ attacker to three goals in MLS this season, more than any other team-mate. His goal tally has come from just four shots on target, too.

MATCH PREDICTION – INTER MIAMI WIN

Miami are the heavy favourites, aided by the brilliant Messi that Mitrovic knows can destroy the Revs with ease. They have also won their last four meetings with New England by a combined score of 16-5.

There has never been a draw in 10 all-time meetings between the clubs (Miami W7, New England W3), and it is hard to expect anything other than a home win here.

And Miami are finding a way without Messi, who did not score at RSL. They had failed to win any of the previous 16 matches in which Messi appeared but did not contribute to a goal (D7 L9),

That run without Messi scoring and posting a win stretched back to April 2025 against the Columbus Crew, but Miami’s squad depth has proved it can step up.

However, the Revs will go down fighting. They have recorded back-to-back come-from-behind wins for the first time since doing so in three straight matches in September 2014. In fact, New England have three comeback wins this year after failing to record a single come-from-behind win during the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Inter Miami – 70.6%

Draw – 16.7%

New England Revolution – 12.7%