Messi Chases His 100th Miami Goal Tonight — Under a Coach Who Arrived Yesterday

Lionel Messi has scored 99 goals for Inter Miami since he arrived in the summer of 2023. He’s had three chances to make it 100 in the last week alone — a crossbar in the 50th minute against Nashville, another off the woodwork in the 77th, and a corner that deflected in off a defender for an own goal instead. Tonight, at Nu Stadium, he gets another shot, in a game that actually hands out a trophy.

Inter Miami hosts Cruz Azul in the 2026 Campeones Cup, the annual winner-take-all match between the MLS and Liga MX champions. Kickoff is 8 p.m. ET on Apple TV. It’s the club’s first shot at silverware at its new stadium, and it arrives at a strange moment: Miami has a new head coach who was still getting travel paperwork sorted 48 hours ago.

A Coach Who Just Landed

Cristian “Kily” González signed his contract with Inter Miami on August 27, but he couldn’t officially start working until his U.S. work permit cleared. González said he feels blessed at being given the opportunity to lead the club and coach Lionel Messi, after formally taking up the role on Tuesday. He led Tuesday’s first training session with Lionel Messi, Rodrigo De Paul, Luis Suárez and Casemiro among those present, and his debut comes Wednesday at 8 p.m. local time in the Campeones Cup against Cruz Azul.

That means González, a 52-year-old Argentine making his first coaching stop outside his home country, could win a trophy in his literal first match in charge. He replaces Guillermo Hoyos, who’d been running things on an interim basis since Javier Mascherano left in April. Hoyos kicked off his tenure with a 6-1-1 record, securing 19 out of 24 available points as the team scored 26 goals in eight matches, the most successful start for an Inter Miami coach through eight matches since the team debuted in MLS in 2020. None of that early hot streak survived the summer. González takes over amid an ongoing five-match winless streak, with the club recording four losses and one draw across all competitions, including the Leagues Cup and MLS regular season.

González isn’t a stranger to Messi, at least in theory. His arrival comes with a special connection to Lionel Messi — the two shared the field for Argentina in two World Cup qualifiers in 2005, when Messi was just beginning his senior international career. That was 21 years ago. Whatever chemistry existed then means little now; what matters is whether a coach with zero MLS experience and one full practice under his belt can get a team playing loose again in a one-off final.

The Milestone Hanging Over Everything

Messi’s pursuit of goal No. 100 is the emotional hook here, and it’s not manufactured. Wednesday’s match is likely to be an emotional occasion for Messi as he attempts to lift his first trophy since the death of his father, Jorge, and his subsequent retirement from international football, and it was against these same Cruz Azul opponents that Messi made his Miami debut, coming off the bench to score a stoppage-time free kick. That 2023 goal launched a Leagues Cup title just a month into his Miami career. The symmetry of facing Cruz Azul again, this time for another trophy, isn’t lost on anyone in the building.

The number itself is remarkable on its own terms. The goal against Nashville was Messi’s 99th in 114 appearances for Inter Miami since joining the club in the summer of 2023. He’s also been absurdly efficient getting there — he became the fastest player in MLS history to reach 100 combined goals and assists, hitting that mark in just 64 appearances, 31 games faster than the previous record holder, Sebastian Giovinco, a total that breaks down into 59 goals and 41 assists.

None of that has translated into recent results. Miami enters the match having struggled for form, winning just once in nine games, leaving them nine points behind Eastern Conference leaders Nashville. Cruz Azul, by contrast, is rolling. La Máquina arrives in Florida buoyed by a 4-3 derby win over Club America, having won three consecutive Liga MX matches.

Why Tonight Matters More Than the Trophy

Beyond the hardware, this is a pressure test for a locker room that’s churned through three head coaches in a single calendar year — Mascherano, Hoyos, now González. Luis Suárez tried to frame the chaos as an opportunity rather than a distraction. “When it comes to playing a match like this, it’s a final. There is no time to dwell on the past,” Suárez said, adding that the club has come through “a challenging run of games” but now faces “the best possible scenario” — a final under a coach bringing “positive energy” and “plenty of enthusiasm” that he called contagious.

Cruz Azul’s camp is watching the occasion the same way, treating the match as validation for one of its own leaders. Cruz Azul coach Joel Huiqui, discussing captain Erik Lira, said he hopes Lira achieves what he’s dreaming of but that he wants him to leave with a trophy.

Whatever happens tonight, Miami turns around fast. Inter Miami hosts Cruz Azul before returning to Major League Soccer regular season action on Sunday against San Diego. A trophy and a 100th goal would make this a night worth remembering regardless of the standings gap with Nashville. A flat performance under a coach who’s barely unpacked would raise the same questions that got Hoyos replaced in the first place — just with less time to fix them before the playoffs.