{"id":8723,"date":"2026-03-02T14:50:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T09:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/02\/messi-scores-twice-in-miami-comeback-at-orlando\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T14:50:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T09:20:05","slug":"messi-scores-twice-in-miami-comeback-at-orlando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/02\/messi-scores-twice-in-miami-comeback-at-orlando\/","title":{"rendered":"Messi scores twice in Miami comeback at Orlando"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ByPaul BattisonBBC Sport Journalist<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published6 minutes ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Lionel Messi scored twice as Inter Miami fought back from two goals down to beat Orlando City 4-2 in the Florida derby.<\/p>\n<p>The reigning champions, who lost their season opener against Los Angeles FC last month, looked set for another defeat when goals from Marco Pasalic and Martin Ojeda put Orlando 2-0 up inside 25 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>But after midfielder Mateo Silvetti&#x27;s stunning 25-yard drive just after half-time gave Miami hope in Orlando, the Argentina legend grasped control of the game.<\/p>\n<p>The 38-year-old scored his first goal of the season to equalise in the 57th minute with a left-footed strike from the edge of the area, then set up midfielder Telasco Segovia to score with five minutes remaining.<\/p>\n<p>Messi sealed victory in the 90th minute when his low free-kick crept past Maxime Crepeau and he celebrated with a signing gesture towards the touchline.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;He&#x27;s the best player to ever play this sport. He&#x27;s a leader, and as a leader, he inspires others, but he also often needs to be inspired himself,&quot; said Miami coach Javier Mascherano.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;He has the ability to create chances like no-one else, and that&#x27;s what allowed us to turn the game around.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>The eight-time Ballon d&#x27;Or winner has now scored 898 goals for club and country,   including 79 in 90 appearances for Miami.<\/p>\n<p>The win was Miami&#x27;s first in nine trips to Orlando, and they now face a game away at DC United on Saturday.<\/p>\n<h2>Related topics<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/football\">Football<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>More on this story<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/football\/articles\/ce8e6y90g2jo\">\n<p>Follow your club with BBC Sport<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published17 October 2025<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sounds\/series\/p02nrsln\">\n<p>Listen to the latest Football Daily podcast<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/articles\/cl5q9dk9jl3o\">\n<p>Get football news sent straight to your phone<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published16 August 2025<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Messi scores twice in Miami comeback at OrlandoImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Lionel Messi scored his first goals of the MSL seasonByPaul BattisonBBC Sport JournalistPublished6 minutes agoLi&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}