2025 might finally be Inter Miami’s year as Leo Messi is on a one-man mission to win them their first MLS title. Owned by David Beckham, Inter Miami was founded in 2020, and it has quickly become one of the biggest clubs in MLS.
With 34 goals and 17 assists this season, Messi has been on fire in 2025 as he is looking to help Inter Miami win its first MLS title.
Inter Miami faced Nashville in the quarter-finals of MLS this weekend, and it was business as usual for the Argentine. He delivered a brace of goals and an assist to help Inter Miami beat Nashville 4-0 and progress to the semifinals of the league.
Messi was in majestic form. Scoring, assisting, dictating play, and dribbling like he was back to his Barcelona days.
Nashville midfielder Edvard Tagseth, in particular, would be seeing Messi in his nightmares for years to come. With Nashville and Inter Miami facing each other 4 times in the last few weeks, Messi has nutmegged him at least 5-6 times.
The energetic midfielder was put on a leash by Messi as the Argentine toyed with him and nutmegged him at will. In fact, one of the nutmegs was so ruthless that even Tagseth couldn’t resist smiling at how badly he got violated.
And now, we have a backstory behind why Messi treated Tagseth like he owed Messi money.
Early in the half, Tagseth tried to wind up Messi, trying to throw them off their game before he was confronted by Alba, who had a heated discussion with the Norwegian. Messi then backed off and answered in a way that only Messi can.
The first and more humiliating one happened in the 19th minute. Messi, who was being held by the Nashville defender Jack Maher, had already been awarded the free kick, but Tagseth was rushing towards him. Messi instinctively just rolled the ball in between Tagseth’s feet, resulting in a humiliating nutmeg that would have any freestyle footballer feeling proud.
The first one was so good he had to do it twice. For the second nutmeg, Messi was dribbling with the ball while Tagseth was running beside him. As Tagseth lunged in to challenge for the ball, Messi saw him in his peripheral vision and shifted the ball slightly to his right and between the legs of the oncoming Tagseth. Tagseth’s momentum carried him past Messi and the ball, giving the Argentine free space to run into.
Since the incident, Tagseth’s comments and DMs have been full of fans trolling him for the nutmeg. The poor Norwegian has even had to put his Instagram account on private after everyone kept tagging him in videos.
🚨During the Inter Miami vs Nashville FC game 3, midfielder Tagseth came up to Messi trying to wind him up then Jordi Abla confronted him. The Nashville player was looking for a fight so Leo Messi decided to embarrass him with 2 nutmegs 😂😂😂😭pic.twitter.com/nsepFLBdIW
— (@psg_chief) November 10, 2025
Interestingly, Messi and Tagseth go way back. As a 14-year-old, Tagseth, who idolised Messi, stated that he will be as good as Messi.
“Jeg skal bli like god som Lionel Messi.” (“I’m going to be as good as Lionel Messi.”)
The Messi fan stated before the clash against Inter Miami last month that when he faces his idol Messi, there will be a fight to obtain Messi’s jersey after the match.
While he did obtain Messi’s jersey, it came at a cost as Messi terrorized him every time Inter Miami faced Nashville.
Beckham signed Messi on a free from Paris Saint-Germain in 2023. Since his debut, Messi has been the best player in MLS, winning all sorts of personal accolades and even the MLS Leagues Cup in 2023.
The Messi-led team was the favorite for the league last year after recording the best MLS stats by any team. Inter Miami finished with 74 points after winning 22 games and drawing 8 while scoring 79 goals. Unfortunately, the Gerard Martino-led side got upset by Atlanta United in the first round of the MLS playoffs.
Inter Miami vs Nashville has been a rather one-sided rivalry since Messi joined the league. However, after the way Inter Miami got eliminated in the same stage last year, Messi and co were on a mission and didn’t want a repeat of that. The performances against Nashville over the three ties showed that the Miami-based club is not taking things lightly this time around.
Inter won the first leg 3-1 at home, while Nashville got the win in their home fixture 2-1. Coming into the decider with the series tied 1-1, Messi opened the scoring in the 10th minute before scoring his second in the 39th.
The first goal saw Messi intercepting the ball from Nashville, dribbling past the barrage of midfielders and defenders, and then unleashing a left-footed strike across the keeper, who was left rooted to the spot.
Messi then played an integral part in the third, playing a deft through ball to Alba, who put in a great cross that was tapped into the net by Allende.
Allende completed his brace in the 76th minute after latching onto Messi’s through ball and chipping the ball over the rushing keeper. The goal was reminiscent of Messi vs Arsenal in the 2010 Champions League when Messi chipped Manual Almunia.
I'm sorry but an inter Miami player might just have scored a puskas winner from a filthy Leo Messi pass. What in the world!pic.twitter.com/nQpMtsULtU
— Dex (@DexxterUtd) November 9, 2025
The goal was so incredible that some are even putting it in the Puskas Award (FIFA Goal of the Year) conversation.
While it was indeed an incredible goal, it would be almost impossible to beat Micky Van de Ven who channeled his inner Messi and scored a peach last week in the UCL. He picked up the ball in his own half and dribbled past the entire Copenhagen team before slotting home a beautiful left-footed finish.
Messi and Inter Miami will now face FC Cincinnati in the semifinals of the MLS on November 24th.
Do you think Inter Miami can go all the way and claim their first MLS title? Let us know in the comments section.
