Inter Miami suffered a heavy defeat at home in front of their fans against Toronto FC, losing 2-1 in a match that featured the legendary Lionel Messi.
Messi scores against Toronto in Inter Miami's MLS defeat (video)
Messi played a key role in Inter Miami's lineup alongside Luis Suarez, Casemiro, and Rodrigo De Paul.
Inter Miami did not perform as expected, despite Messi's teammates dominating possession for most of the match.
Toronto surprised Inter Miami in the 59th minute when Josh Sargeant opened the scoring for his team with a powerful shot from outside the penalty area that goalkeeper Danny St. Clair was unable to stop.
Toronto gave Inter Miami only three minutes, and by the 62nd minute, Derek Etienne doubled the visitors' lead with a second goal, following up the ball inside the penalty area after it rebounded off St. Clair.
Messi scored Inter Miami's only goal in the 82nd minute after taking advantage of a brilliant pass from Rodrigo De Paul to put the ball into Toronto's net, but this goal did not prevent the Argentine international's teammates from losing.
With that result, Toronto raised its tally to 24 points in tenth place in the Eastern Conference, while Inter Miami's tally remained frozen at 39 points in second place in the Eastern Conference as well.
