Prior to the Leagues Cup Final that will face Inter Miami against Nashville SC, Lionel Messi appeared before the media and in one of his responses he praised the ability of MLS teams to compete against their Mexican peers.
“The MLS showed that it is at a high level and showed that they can compete against the Liga MX clubsbut we do not stay with that, and we aim for things higher up ”, he mentioned.
And he highlighted: “We had to compete against Mexican teams that have a very good level. The Mexican league is a very competitive league where they have great players worldwide, not just in Mexico.”
Messi contributed to the prevailing debate between fans of MLS and Liga MX by stating that they have a sufficient level to compete on equal terms.
“The teams from the United States showed that they have a very high level and today they can compete on an equal footing with the Mexican teams and we must take advantage of it to continue growing, not stay with what we did but aim higher still”, he specified.
Messi only faced a team from Mexico
On their way to reach the final of the Leagues Cup, Inter Miami could only face a Mexican soccer team and they did so for a few minutes on the pitch.
Cruz Azul was the team against which Inter Miami appeared in the Leagues Cupas well as the one in charge of making resistance in the debut of Lionel Messi in any match at the club level of the Concacaf.
It wasn’t until minute 54 when Gerardo Martino decided to sacrifice Benjamin Cremaschi so that the reinforcement would have its first minutes of play in the United States.
That day Messi with an accurate shot from outside the big area, managed to defeat Andrés Gudiño’s attempt to stop the ball and gave his new club the first victory.
Since that meeting, on his way he never faced any Liga MX team again. On the other hand, Nashville SC, their rival in the match for the title, was able to face Toluca Futbol Club in the group stage, as well as beat Club América and Rayados de Monterrey in the matches corresponding to the round of 16 of final and semifinal, respectively.
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