Messi comes close to Beckham's free kick record
In the 85th minute, the Inter Miami team was awarded a penalty on the right side of the fence, with a shot angle of more than 30 degrees, a distance of more than 20 meters. Messi took a free kick to bring the ball over the fence and hit the high dead corner to equalize 4-4 for the home team. A Miami player holding his head was amazed at the goal, and it was the second time Messi had saved his team's last-minute free-kick in the past four games.
This is the 64th barrier free kick in Messi's career, just one goal away from Beckham and two less than Ronaldinho. Beckham is also the chairman and co-owner of Inter Miami. However, the Argentine superstar is still 13 goals away from Juninho's free-kick record.
In the post-match press conference, home coach Nico Estevez said he was not surprised when Messi scored in that situation. "Such free kicks for Messi are like penalties for other players. It's that simple," he said. "Everybody sees that. He's too stable. We can only hope the ball goes off target, or Messi slips while running."
The away coach Tata Martino has the same opinion as his Dallas counterpart. "With free kicks in such a position, Messi is the only player who is expected to score most of the time," he commented. "For other players, free kicks often have a 90% chance of not being scored. As for Messi, a penalty kick has a 90% rate of goal."
If only in national championships, Messi has a goal-scoring efficiency of 9%, with 41 goals from 456 penalties. This rate of Cristiano Ronaldo is 6.4%, with 34 goals from 532 free kicks.
Messi has played four games for Miami, of which only two matches he played the full 90 minutes. The 36-year-old superstar scored seven goals, provided one assist, helping the home team win all four matches and receive all four player of the match awards. Before Messi, Miami did not win nine consecutive matches, finishing last in the Eastern group in the American professional league MLS.
Miami will continue to play in the second phase of MLS on August 21 against Charlotte, but before that, they will continue to raise their hopes of winning the Leagues Cup when they have reached the quarterfinals.
