Lionel Messi and Inter Miami have been eliminated from the 2024 MLS playoffs with their 3-2 loss to Atlanta United in Game 3 of their series. Miami entered the postseason as the No. 1 seed after setting the MLS record for most points in a season to earn its first Supporters\' Shield.
Lionel Messi tied the match at 2-2 in the second half, but Bartosz Slisz won the game and the series for Atlanta with a 76th-minute header.
Messi twice had chances to level the score with free kicks, but on both occasions his efforts were blocked by the Atlanta wall.
Messi\'s $20,446,667 in total compensation from Inter Miami this season was about $5 million more than the entire Atlanta payroll, and Inter Miami spent a league-high $41.7 million on payroll this season.
Messi\'s deal with Miami will see him play one more season at Chase Stadium.
\"I actually don\'t know how limited [Messi\'s time in this league] is,\" Data Martino said. \"There is a question of time passing, but I would not dare to say that it is so short.
\"If you look at the context in which this began, it seems to me that the progress of the club is important. The comparison of the last game of last season, back in October, with today\'s third game in the playoffs and this bitterness that we all have for not having progressed, is clear that the club\'s objectives have been modified and I think there is no reason for the club not to continue trying next year.
\"What happened this year, the bad and the good in general have been better than everything that happened last year and I would say even from the entire life of the club.\"