Since Lionel Messi joined Major League Soccer on July 15, 2023, Inter Miami have become one of the most difficult teams in the league for opponents to figure out.
When the reigning World Cup champion set his sights on American soccer after a storied career at Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, winning four Champions League titles and 10 LaLiga trophies at the former, opponents knew no one would be spared from the talents of one of the game's greatest figures. To his credit, Messi immediately silenced concerns about how seriously he'd take this continent's competitions when debuting against Cruz Azul with a spectacular goal and captaining Miami to the inaugural Leagues Cup trophy. From that moment on, the Argentina legend proved to opponents that he would play to win, and he became a problem for any challenger on Miami's calendar.
With his guidance on and off the field, the Herons lead the Eastern Conference and Supporters' Shield standings, and they remain on course to break the record for most points recorded in an MLS regular season with 64 in 30 games so far. Inter Miami became the first team to clinch a 2024 MLS playoff spot, weeks ahead of other teams.
Messi's consistent goal contributions force every team facing the Herons to ask themselves same question: How do you stop the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner?
As if that's not enough, coaches must also think beyond Messi. Miami poses a unique threat in MLS with several of his former Barca teammates -- Luis Suárez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets -- supporting the Argentine forward in the final third. Just ask Sporting Kansas City head coach Peter Vermes.
"How do you actually prepare for the team that has Messi, Suárez, Busquets and Alba? It's a difficult question," Vermes told ESPN. Each coach may take a different approach to how they answer the question, but the goal to stop the star-studded team remains the same.
"With Miami, they're the only team in the league that I would say, you have to think this way: They have Messi and then they have Suárez," said Vermes. "Busquets is a different animal. Because don't get me wrong, he's very important to the picture, and so is Alba. But there's something that Messi aside, even Suárez brings to the table a bit -- not to the level of Messi, but he does bring to the table."
Vermes landed on the concise objective for playing against the Herons: "Compact the middle," which is where Miami's squad is blessed with an abundance of world-class players.
"With that team, it's [all about] compacting the middle, because they have a very strong spine up the middle," he said. "So if you're compacting the middle against them, you're taking out a strength of theirs. It was all about trying to keep Messi away from the ball as much as possible. And just make sure that you know, when you have the ball, if you're gonna give it up, give it up far away from the goal, right?"
New England Revolution head coach Caleb Porter adopted a similar approach, fixating on Messi, the reigning World Cup champion, while trying to deny service into the box, thereby muting Suárez.
"Our focus has to be Messi, because he's so crucial to how they play -- him and Suárez because Suárez actually has more goals than him right now. People forget about him, but he's a world-class player as well," Porter said. "You don't stop Messi, but you can limit his touches in key areas. Because when he's in key areas around the box, he's lethal. Unstoppable, in some ways."
Since Porter faced Inter Miami, Suárez is tied for second place in the Golden Boot standings with 17 goals, while Messi is tied for 12th place with 14 goals. (D.C. United's Christian Benteke is still in the lead, with 19.) Messi has missed 10 MLS games this season due to injury, putting him behind in the Golden Boot race. The Argentine forward, however, now stands as the fastest player in MLS to reach 15 goals and 15 assists, doing so in 19 games across the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Sebastian Giovinco previously held the record, completing the feat in 29 games.
Despite what the stats say at any given point throughout the season, Porter was clear: It's all about limiting Messi. "We can't man-mark him, so we have to do it by committee where he floats to," he said.
As with any opponent, coaches will prepare for hours, studying the opponent and formulating a specialized plan. Vermes shared with ESPN the tactical booklet created for each of Sporting KC's rivals, each one containing diagrams, analytical images of set pieces, lineups and tactical components. The first page of the scouting report included more than 600 words of analysis next to the projected starting XI of the opponent. Another contained four detailed graphs illustrating the progression of movements made by the opposing attack in the buildup to a goal with explanations on each individual photo.
The team's coaching staff studies the report before condensing the matter into a brief summary for the players to digest.
With Miami, though, such preparations become all the more important. Inter lead the league this season in goals scored per game (2.3) and no team in MLS converts more shots into goals than the Herons (19.7%) or is on target more (46.3%), making the attack particularly potent. Messi is a big part of that -- his 1.9 goals plus assists per game is nearly a full goal more than any other player in the league.
Stopping Messi may not be a guarantee for MLS teams to beat Inter Miami, but it's the best blueprint they've got. Across all competitions since Messi's arrival on July 21, 2023, Miami are 13-9-5 when Messi does not play, but 18-6-8 when he does.
"When we have Leo, every team plays against us like it were a final," said defender Marcelo Weigandt. "So then we have to play every game like it's a final if we want to achieve what we aspire to."
'You have to be aware of these guys'
Once the game begins, though, and the hypothetical plans turn into reality, Miami prove why they might be the most difficult team in MLS to anticipate.
Kansas City did well earlier this season to defend Messi in the first half by keeping him from the final third and muting his ability to distribute the ball. SKC took an early lead and the plan almost worked -- up until Messi pulled off a shot that, if attempted by most players, would not have gone in.
After finding a pocket of space between three Sporting players, Messi completed a stunning long-range strike from just outside the box to the upper right corner of the goal to shock spectators and leave a lasting impression on Vermes. From that moment on, Messi continued to work his magic for Inter Miami by weaving through defenders, timing runs and providing the perfect passes to Suárez.
"The second goal, that goal, statistically, there's a 2% chance to score from there. And so, that's the difference," Vermes said. "We had the least amount of touches [from Messi] in our game than any other MLS game that he played in. And he assisted in and scored in a 3-2 victory. They're the only team that can do that because of him.
"So, the whole idea was to try, instead of stopping Messi, it was to try to deny service to him. The amazing thing is, I don't know how much more we could have done on that goal. We actually had a couple really good chances that we didn't finish on -- what I would tell you is if you have Messi on your team, he finishes those chances. I'm not being disparaging towards my players. That's the reality. And everybody says this in the league."
It was a similar storyline against New England this season. Messi led Miami to a dominant 4-1 comeback victory with two goals and one assist to break the record for most goal contributions through the first seven matches of a season.
Despite tight defending from the Revolution, Messi wedged himself through three players, using his understanding of spatial awareness and reading the situation perfectly to time his run into the box and guide a narrow strike into the net. The second goal then saw the classic Messi-Busquets move: After communicating with his former Barcelona teammate, Messi outpaced the wall of defenders and positioned himself well to quickly score.
"I don't think [Messi] had a ton of touches and effectiveness early on in the game," Porter said. "But that's him, he lulls you."
And again the story repeated itself, this time against the Philadelphia Union at Chase Stadium, when the forward returned from injury on Sept. 15 after two months out to propel Inter Miami to a 3-1 victory with two goals and one assist.
After a subdued start to the game, Messi figured out how to break through the Union's back line with minimal touches to get on the scoresheet twice in less than five minutes.
"Messi made some plays we could have done better on," said Philadelphia head coach Jim Curtin. "The second goal, for sure, a little bit soft and goes down the middle. We could maybe get a block before that instance as well, but good players punish you."
Lionel Messi returns for Inter Miami in style, scoring two goals in four minutes to turn the game around and then registering a late assist vs. the Philadelphia Union.
In the match against SKC, the Union and the Revs, the plan to limit Messi's touches may have worked, but then Messi just proved how much damage he can do with so little time on the ball.
"You have to be aware of these guys -- you respect them," Orlando City defender Robin Jansson told ESPN. "They are world-class players. The mentality in the game -- you have to be more aware."
Orlando crumbled 5-0 to Inter Miami earlier this season as Messi scored twice and played an integral part in the lead-up to the first strike by Suárez. His ability to read the game and rhythm proved to be the difference-maker, often deceiving the opponents with a slow pace before quickly finding a seam to set up his teammates for success. In that game, Miami broke their own record of most goals scored in a single game and largest margin of victory.
Weeks later, the Argentine pulled off a record-setting performance to triumph 6-2 over the New York Red Bulls. Messi recorded one goal and five assists to break the league record for most goal contributions in a single match, as well as the most assists in a single match. At that point, he had also scored and assisted in six consecutive MLS matches.
Messi's three assists to Suárez were reminiscent of their time together in Barcelona. While in Spain, the Argentine provided Suárez with 39 assists, the most to any other player. On the flip side, the Uruguayan entered MLS having assisted Messi on 47 occasions throughout six years at Camp Nou.
Years of friendship and teamwork translated into a record-breaking performance that night.
"It's the quality from Lionel Messi in the last pass to Suárez [for the last goal], it's his movements, his counter-movements -- this is top quality," said New York Red Bulls head coach Sandro Schwarz. "It's not that easy to defend, even with our back line of four against Inter Miami of this quality. You need 94 or 95 minutes of focus and concentration at a high level."
What's clear is that every team is trying to stop Messi's Inter Miami, but no one has quite figured it out on a consistent basis. Limiting his touches on the ball can only do so much. Propelled by Messi, Miami leads MLS in points and continues to look like the team to beat heading into the playoffs.
"At the end of the day, you're talking about Messi, the greatest player in the world," concluded Vermes.