{"id":900421,"date":"2026-04-20T13:21:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/20\/golazo-lionel-messi-thrills-record-crowd-for-colorado-vs-miami-mlssoccer-com\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T13:21:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:21:17","slug":"golazo-lionel-messi-thrills-record-crowd-for-colorado-vs-miami-mlssoccer-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/20\/golazo-lionel-messi-thrills-record-crowd-for-colorado-vs-miami-mlssoccer-com\/","title":{"rendered":"GOLAZO! Lionel Messi thrills record crowd for Colorado vs. Miami | MLSSoccer.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer <\/p>\n<article xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>Who needs a permanent head coach when you have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/lionel-messi\/\">Lionel Messi<\/a>?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The iconic Argentine No. 10 was at his best on Saturday, scoring a brilliant game-winning goal to complete a brace and lead\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/inter-miami-cf\/\">Inter Miami CF<\/a> to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/mls-regular-season\/2026\/matches\/colvsmia-04-18-2026\/\">3-2 victory<\/a> at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/colorado-rapids\/\">Colorado Rapids<\/a> in their first game since Javier Mascherano\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/news\/head-coach-javier-mascherano-departs-inter-miami\">departure<\/a> as manager.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/news\/colorado-rapids-vs-inter-miami-draws-historic-attendance-to-mile-high\">record-breaking crowd<\/a> of 75,824 fans, the second-highest single-game attendance in MLS history, witnessed Messi\u2019s latest masterpiece that helped the Herons successfully begin their new era under interim boss Guillermo Hoyos.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have the magic that God gave our No. 10,\u201d Hoyos told reporters post-game at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n                                <iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AABHaWcEQIs?feature=oembed\" allowfullscreen title=\"Now THAT'S Messi MAGIC! Tiebreaker Goal in Denver Broncos Stadium!\"><\/iframe>\n                            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>The Messi show<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>Messi got things going with an 18th-minute penalty kick, before fellow Designated Player <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/german-berterame\/\">Germ\u00e1n Berterame<\/a> doubled Miami&#8217;s lead heading into halftime. Berterame has scored in two straight games after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/news\/german-berterame-opens-inter-miami-account-as-world-cup-approaches\">opening<\/a> his MLS account last week against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/red-bull-new-york\/\">Red Bull New York<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Colorado flirted with the comeback via second-half goals from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/rafael-navarro\/\">Rafael Navarro<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/darren-yapi\/\">Darren Yapi<\/a>, but Messi had the final say with his 79th-minute stunner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think there was an important reaction after the 2-2, where we had to change our shape,\u201d Hoyos said. \u201cAnd well, I\u2019ll repeat it: the lamp was rubbed, and out comes that goal that only he [Messi] can score.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a great blessing to have him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<blockquote><p>\u2014 Major League Soccer (@MLS) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLS\/status\/2045634267816804561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 18, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>Momentum-builder<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>Messi\u2019s brace pushed him to seven goals on the season, two shy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/fc-dallas\/\">FC Dallas<\/a> striker\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/petar-musa\/\">Petar Musa<\/a>&#8216;s nine for the Golden Boot presented by Audi lead. In 2025, Messi won the Golden Boot with 29 tallies.<\/p>\n<p>At 38, the two-time reigning Landon Donovan MLS MVP remains at an elite level as he&#8217;s poised to lead defending champions Argentina at this summer&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/fifa-world-cup\/\">2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a> in the United States, Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>For Miami, Saturday\u2019s win also snapped a two-game winless streak.<\/p>\n<p>The Herons will look to keep the positive results going during Wednesday\u2019s visit to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/real-salt-lake\">Real Salt Lake<\/a> (9:30 pm ET | <a href=\"https:\/\/tv.apple.com\/us\/sporting-event\/real-salt-lake-vs-inter-miami-cf\/umc.cse.180bru6lqthd8m7xrg7ywilct?ctx_brand=tvs.sbd.7000%2Ctvs.sbd.4000\" target=\"_blank\">Apple TV<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Today] was a beautiful experience because there are players of enormous quality [on the team], the best player in history is here,\u201d said Hoyos.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I got very emotional many times. Because that\u2019s what football is: emotion.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/news\/lionel-messi-puts-brilliance-on-display-in-front-of-historic-crowd\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a>Tyisha Mongold<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer Who needs a permanent head coach when you have Lionel Messi? The iconic Argentine No. 10 was at his best on Saturday, scoring a brilliant game-winning goal to complete a brace and lead\u00a0Inter Miami CF to a 3-2 victory at the Colorado Rapids in their first game since Javier Mascherano\u2019s departure as manager.\u00a0 A [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":900422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121550,22672,2005],"tags":[121549,82301],"class_list":["post-900421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golazo","category-lionel","category-soccer","tag-golazo","tag-lionel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}