LAFC can’t capitalize on chances in loss to Lionel Messi and Inter Miami
The buzz began more than 30 minutes before kickoff when the best soccer player in the world led his team on to the field for warm-ups to the flash of hundreds of cellphone cameras.
The Lionel Messi Show had arrived in Los Angeles.
The anticipation continued to build during the pregame introductions, when Messi’s name was met with a roar. And when the game started, the crowd reacted each time he touched the ball.
Final: Messi and Inter Miami make a clear statement with 3-1 win over LAFC
Watch: LAFC score their lone goal against Miami
Watch: Messi’s second assist gives Inter Miami a 3-0 lead
Did LAFC lose its vaunted home field advantage against Lionel Messi?
Fans try to enter pitch but security quickly detains them
Watch: Inter Miami takes a 2-0 lead thanks to the Messi-Busquets-Alba connection
Fans talk about what it means to see Lionel Messi in person
Selena Gomez can’t believe that Messi didn’t score
Prince Harry gets a shout out on the video screens at BMO Stadium
Hectic first 20 minutes as LAFC miss two clear chances. Inter Miami leads 1-0
The first 20 minutes of the match has lived up to all the expectations. LAFC has dominated the first 20 minutes with two clear chances that were wasted by Dénis Bouanga, who didn’t give up the ball to Carlos Vela for a look at goal. A couple minutes later who wasted a one-on-one with the Miami goalie missing wide.
While LAFC has had the ball for the majority of the first 20 minutes it was Inter Miami who scored the first goal with a beautiful play by Facundo Farias beating the LAFC goalie against the run of play.
Luckiest fan in Los Angeles pays $12 for a ticket to tonight’s game
Messi getting in his work before tonight’s match with LAFC
A lot of Inter Miami fans descend on BMO Stadium
Tonight’s starting lineups
Fans boo Inter Miami players as they take the field
LA Times staff predictions for Inter Miami vs. LAFC
Five Los Angeles Times staffers at the LAFC vs. Inter Miami game this evening from BMO Stadium has given their predictions.
Kevin Baxter, soccer writer LA Times: 3-0 LAFC
Jad El Reda, reporter LA Times en Español: 3-1 LAFC
Eduard Cauich, editor LA Times en Español: 3-1 Inter Miami
Fidel Martinez, editorial director De Los: 2-2
Dylan Hernandez: columnist LA Times: 2-2
DiCaprio, Sudeikis, Selena Gomez and LeBron James expected to watch Messi vs. LAFC
Some Inter Miami players take the field at BMO Stadium
Hours before kickoff fans line up to get a glimpse of Lionel Messi
Fans start lining up waiting for Inter Miami bus and a Messi sighting
Lionel Messi merchandise a hot seller outside of BMO Stadium
‘Tata’ Martino no se guardará nada ante Carlos Vela y el LAFC; Lionel Messi va de titular
Al Inter Miami no le queda mucho tiempo para meterse entre los posibles invitados a los playoffs – ocupa la catorceava posición en la Conferencia del Este – pues está a 10 puntos del área de clasificación.
Así que el juego de visita del domingo (7 p.m. PT, Apple TV), ante al LAFC, será una de las 10 finales que la escuadra de Gerardo Martino afrontará con mucha necesidad y avisó que no se guardará nada en el BMO Stadium de Los Ángeles.
What do tickets cost to see Lionel Messi and Inter Miami play LAFC? Try $96,000
When news broke this summer that Lionel Messi was joining Inter Miami, LAFC season-ticket holder Jordan Ekeroth listed his two seats for the September game on the secondary market.
Ekeroth, 32, has been a soccer fan for years and was in “disbelief” when he heard Messi would be playing Major League Soccer. But he knew he’d be out of town when Messi and Inter Miami came to Los Angeles. He’d heard tickets were being listed — and sold — for much higher prices than normal, so he figured he’d shoot his shot.
He listed the two tickets he has with his partner for $650 each on Ticketmaster, which is built into his season-ticket-holder app, and waited. After Messi scored two goals in the first 20 minutes of his first career start for the club last month, the tickets sold.
Can LAFC stop Lionel Messi? Not really, because ‘he’s an extraterrestrial’
Giorgio Chiellini greeted the question with a furrowed brow and a wide smile.
How do you stop Lionel Messi, he was asked. For Chiellini, it was as if he had been asked how to swim without getting wet.
“I tried to do it. Sometimes it works, sometimes no,” the LAFC center back said. “One thing is sure: you cannot stop him with just one man. It’s impossible.”
Messi and Inter Miami train in Los Angeles
Para el entrenador del Inter Miami, el partido ante el LAFC del domingo será muy importante en sus aspiraciones para los playoffs, por lo que dijo que irá con Lionel Messi de titular ante Carlos Vela y el club angelino en el BMO Stadium.
‘Messimania’ includes special empanadas and sky high ticket prices
Graciella Boltiansky is the owner of a Los Angeles business making empanadas. As an Argentinean and fan of Lionel Messi, there was little doubt that she would find a way to pay tribute to her idol before the Inter Miami match against LAFC on Sunday from BMO Stadium.
“For us Argentineans what he is doing is incredible,” said Boltiansky, owner of Nonna’s Empanadas. “The effect of what Messi is doing is impressive, not only as a player but as a person, a friend, a father. He has been touched by God.”