Inter Miami rout Montreal 7-1 as Messi scores twice at Nu Stadium

Inter Miami CF put seven past CF Montreal at Nu Stadium, and the match had a little bit of everything: a scare in the first half, a Messi who showed up right when he was needed, and a finish that turned into the kind of scoreline people remember, 7-1. The real story, though, wasn't a one-sided avalanche from the opening whistle. It was a team that went ahead, let the visitors level it, and then, in the second half, decided the game was no longer up for debate.

It started well for the home side. In the 19th minute, after a string of consecutive corners, Casemiro headed home a cross from Telasco Segovia to make it 1-0. But Montreal didn't fold: in the 36th, Fabian Herbers equalized with a right-footed strike from outside the box, set up by Noah Streit. The tie didn't last long. Three minutes later, in the 39th, an own goal by Luca Petrasso put the hosts back in front, and they went into the break leading 2-1.

The second-half explosion

If the first half left some doubts, the second erased them completely. Just after the restart, in the 51st minute, Lionel Messi finished with his right foot to make it 3-1. From there the match turned into a demolition job on Montreal: in the 79th, Luis Suarez added another off a Messi assist on a counterattack; in the 82nd, Messi himself notched his second goal of the night with a left-footed finish; and in the 88th, Alexander Shaw, just off the bench, capped things off with a right-footed shot to make it 6-1... though the final score actually read 7-1, a fair reflection of a second half in which Inter Miami never stopped creating danger.

The numbers back up what was seen on the field. Inter Miami controlled possession, doubled its opponent's shot total, and was far sharper in both penalty areas.

According to our own estimate based on the match's shots, Inter Miami generated 2.94 expected goals against Montreal's 0.80, a gap that confirms the dominance wasn't just about the final score but about chance creation over the full ninety minutes.

What the preview said

Before kickoff, our projection gave Inter Miami a 69% chance of winning, against 14% for Montreal and 17% for a draw, with expected goals of 2.78 for the hosts and 1.23 for the visitors. The final result ended up being far more emphatic than that forecast: the 7-1 scoreline blew past what we projected, even if the overall direction of the match, a clear Inter Miami win, did match expectations.

In the Eastern Conference standings, Inter Miami sits in second place with 42 points from 22 matches played, while Montreal is 14th with 21 points, a gap of 21 points between the two sides that already reflected, even before this match, the distance between the two rosters.

With Messi scoring twice and setting up two more, and with Suarez, Casemiro and Shaw also getting in on the act, Inter Miami leaves Nu Stadium with one of those nights when everything went according to plan, and then some.