Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano described the blisteringly cold conditions in Kansas City as “not human” after a solitary Lionel Messi goal gave the South Florida club a slender lead in their Concacaf Champions Cup clash last night.
Messi scored 11 minutes into the second half, controlling a long ball from former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets, beating his marker and firing a low right-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner.
MESSI SCORES TO BREAK THE DEADLOCK FOR MIAMI! pic.twitter.com/1JsnQCU5G6
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) February 20, 2025
Miami saw out the rest of the game against SKC despite the temperature dropping to a ‘real feel’ of -8F.
“I’m very proud because I think it’s impossible to play in these conditions,” said Mascherano, who enjoyed a win in his first competitive game in charge.
“It is not human, you know, so I’m very proud because they gave me 100 per cent with intensity, with a lot of attitude, so we are happy. We are in the halftime of the qualifiers, so now try to rest after a very difficult game for us.”
There had been reports beforehand that Messi would refuse to play given the weather conditions that prompted Concacaf to delay the fixture by 24 hours due to forecasts of seven inches of snowfall.
As it was, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner was the star of the show.
They wanted the cold. We brought the heat 🔥 pic.twitter.com/UimItuvtB1
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) February 20, 2025
His former Argentina team-mate Mascherano added: “Fantastic [goal], I think maybe for the people that know him, it’s normal because he did things like this or goals like this 1,000 times, but we are very lucky to have him in our team.”
Sporting Kansas City must now overturn the first-leg deficit when they meet again on Tuesday and coach Peter Vermes knows there is one man in particular they will have to keep quiet if they wish to progress to the second round.
He said: “I thought we played really well, we were very organized defensively. We didn’t give anything away. There is one guy [Messi] that can turn the game over and he did.
“It’s not just [what he does] to us, it’s what he does to the whole world, anyone who plays against him. He can change the game himself, and there aren’t many players you can say that about in the world’s game and over generations.”
