Lionel Messi scores twice as Inter Miami advances to Concacaf Champions Cup semis

Doug McIntyre

Soccer Journalist

Lionel Messi and Inter Miami are off to the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals.

Miami scored three consecutive goals on Wednesday — two of them by Messi — to overcome a 2-0 deficit and win its two-game, total-goals-wins series against fellow MLS club LAFC.

LAFC came into Wednesday’s contest with a slim, 1-0 aggregate lead thanks to their win last week in Southern California. Aaron Long doubled the Black & Gold’s advantage just nine minutes in on Wednesday — a strike that was worth more than a single goal.

Unlike the UEFA Champions League, which did away with the away goals tiebreaker a couple d seasons ago, Concacaf — the region that includes North and Central America and the Caribbean — still uses this controversial rule to decide the winner if teams are tied at the end of 180 minutes. Long’s away goal meant that even two straight Miami strikes wouldn’t be enough to send the series to extra time.