Inter Miami, Lionel Messi suffer stunning playoff exit to Atlanta

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. --  Inter Miami suffered a stunning first-round elimination from the 2024 Major League Soccer playoffs after falling 3-2 against Atlanta United in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference series at Chase Stadium on Saturday night.

Lionel Messi looked to have rescued Miami after scoring a second-half headed equalizer, but Bartosz Slisz won the game and the series for Atlanta with a 76th-minute header.

The goal was scored while Miami defender Tomás Avilés was down on the field in his penalty area, with his teammates appealing for the referee to stop the game to allow him to receive treatment.

Messi twice had chances to level the score with free kicks, but on both occasions his efforts were blocked by the Atlanta wall as Miami fell victim to arguably the biggest upset in MLS playoff history.

Led by the Argentina star, Miami entered the postseason as the No. 1 seed after setting the MLS record for most points in a season to earn its first Supporters' Shield. But it fell short against an Atlanta side that finished ninth in the Eastern Conference, 34 points behind Miami, and qualified for the postseason only with a final-day win to clinch a wild-card spot.

"In this last part of the year we get used to achieving the objectives that we set for ourselves and we have not been able to achieve the most important one," Miami coach Gerardo "Tata" Martino told reporters.

The Herons defeated Atlanta 2-1 in the first game at home before losing Game 2 by the same score at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta that forced a decisive third game.

And Miami again struggled against the Five Stripes on Saturday. Though Matías Rojas gave Miami the lead in the 17th minute, Jamal Thiare quickly found the equalizer two minutes later. Atlanta then took a 2-1 lead within another two minutes after a second strike from Thiare.

Inter Miami thought it tied the score in the 25th minute, only for Diego Gómez to be called offside. And Miami argued wildly for a penalty kick later in the half, arguing there was a handball in the box, but still went into the half down 2-1.

"In the first half there is a clear, very clear penalty. ...  Luis' [Suárez] shot hits him in the hand and the referee did not even check and this play that for me is decisive," said Martino, who also complained the game was not stopped before Atlanta's winning goal.

Miami, which amassed 79 goals in 34 regular-season games with 20 each from Messi and Suárez, would get back on level terms through Messi. But defensive frailties and a standout performance from Atlanta's 40-year-old goalkeeper,  Brad Guzan, saw a star-studded Miami team exit the postseason to dramatically conclude its 2024 season.

Atlanta will face Orlando City in the conference semifinals.

The team with the best record won the MLS Cup four times in the league's first seven seasons. In the 22 seasons since, the top overall seed has won the title only four times.

The loss extended Miami's struggles in the MLS postseason, with the team co-owned by David Beckham still never progressing beyond the first round.

The South Florida team first featured in the MLS postseason in its inaugural 2020 season, losing 3-0 to Nashville in the play-in round. Two years later, the Herons fell 3-0 to New York City FC in the first round.

Miami missed the playoffs last season after Messi's midyear arrival but expected far more this year with a full season of a team featuring not only eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi but his onetime  Barcelona teammates Suárez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba as well as a former Barcelona coach in Martino.

"If you think about where we were in November last year, obviously there is progress as far as the club is concerned, not just the team," Martino said. "If you think about the expectations we had for this playoff, obviously we have fallen too short."

Messi's $20,446,667 in total compensation from Inter Miami this season was about $5 million more than the entire Atlanta payroll, and Inter Miami spent a league-high $41.7 million on payroll this season.

Miami will now shift focus to building its roster for 2025, when it will compete in the expanded 32-team Club World Cup.

Though Suárez's contract is set to expire at the end of this year, the forward revealed there have been negotiations between his agent and the club to extend his time in South Florida.

Messi's deal with Miami will see him play one more season at Chase Stadium.

"I actually don't know how limited [Messi's time in this league] is," Martino said. "There is a question of time passing, but I would not dare to say that it is so short.

"If you look at the context in which this began, it seems to me that the progress of the club is important. The comparison of the last game of last season, back in October, with today's third game in the playoffs and this bitterness that we all have for not having progressed, is clear that the club's objectives have been modified and I think there is no reason for the club not to continue trying next year.

"What happened this year, the bad and the good in general have been better than everything that happened last year and I would say even from the entire life of the club."

Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.