Messi & Suárez score braces as Inter Miami thrash DC United 4-0
Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez each scored twice as Inter Miami emphatically ended a five-match winless run with a 4-0 demolition of DC United at Nu Stadium.
Just four days after bringing the curtain down on his glittering 21-year international career with Argentina, Messi produced another masterclass. The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner played the full 90 minutes and took his MLS-leading tally to 23 goals, underlining why he remains the competition’s outstanding individual force.
The hosts needed only three minutes to break the deadlock. Sergio Reguilón’s cross from the left was glanced on by Germán Berterame and Suárez, sharp as ever inside the box, finished first-time with his left foot past Sean Johnson. The Uruguayan doubled the advantage six minutes before half-time, again capitalising on Berterame’s work. Messi’s shot was saved by Johnson but the rebound fell kindly; Berterame cushioned a header back into the danger area and Suárez stabbed home from close range.
Any lingering hope DC United harboured of a recovery evaporated two minutes after the restart. Suárez, who finished the night with a goal and an assist, picked out Messi near the six-yard box and the Argentine simply guided the ball inside the right post. The fourth goal arrived on the hour. Rodrigo De Paul released Messi in the channel; the 39-year-old glided past two defenders, opened his body and drilled a precise left-footed finish into the bottom corner from 12 yards.
It was Miami’s first league victory since a 7-1 thrashing of CF Montreal at the end of August and the first for new head coach Cristian “Kily” González since he took charge in mid-September. The three points lifted Inter Miami to 49 and second place in the Eastern Conference. DC United, winless in five, remain marooned in the lower reaches of the table and drifting further from the play-off places.
Dayne St Clair kept a clean sheet as Miami restricted the visitors to just two shots on target despite DC managing 14 attempts overall. The result also extended Inter Miami’s unbeaten record against their opponents to seven matches.
For Messi, the night offered further evidence that his focus has shifted entirely to club duty. For Suárez, still finding the net with remarkable regularity at 39, it was another reminder of the enduring quality that has defined his career. Together they turned a potentially awkward evening into a statement performance that will ease pressure on a Miami side that had stuttered of late.
