Lionel Messi was back in the Inter Miami starting lineup Sunday night against Atlanta United for the rematch of last season’s MLS playoff upset and a fired up crowd of 42,844 showed up at Mercedes Benz Stadium for the occasion.

The home crowd got a thrilling game, but not the result it wanted. A sublime first-half equalizer from Messi and a game-winning header from Fafa Picault in the 89th minute gave Miami a 2-1 win and launched the team to the top of the Eastern Conference standings.

Picault had been out for three weeks with a hamstring injury and entered the game in the 83rd minute. Although he is just 5-8, he leaped to connect with a Jordi Alba cross and headed it in past an outstretched goalkeeper Brad Guzan. He was immediately swarmed by his jubilant teammates and coaches.

“The team and everyone on the medical staff and coaching staff supported me during this time, so it was easy to come back and I just wanted to repay them with something,” Picault said immediately after the game. “I grew up playing basketball, so dunking, even though I’m short, wasn’t a problem. So, I try to implement that on the field, as well and try to get aerial and get header goals.”

Miami coach Javier Mascherano said he and the entire team were happy for Picault because he is a beloved player who went through a tough stretch.

Inter Miami improved to 3-0-1 for the season and 7-0-1 under first-year coach Mascherano. It was Miami’s eighth game in 26 days, but the men in pink looked full of energy.

The home fans erupted at the 11-minute mark when Atlanta’s new striker, Emmanuel Latte Lath, struck with a header from close range to the top left corner off a Brooks Lennon assist. Atlanta paid an MLS-record transfer fee of $22 million for the Middlesbrough player, and he is showing why.

Not to be outdone, Messi dazzled the crowd with a skillful equalizing golazo nine minutes later. He pressed high and won the ball from Atlanta’s Bartosz Slisz and then dribbled around defender Derrick Williams, left him in the turf, and floated the ball over Guzan. It was his fourth goal of the 2025 season and his 38th since joining Inter Miami in July 2023.

Messi missed three games with muscle fatigue and has obviously regained his form just in time, as he heads to the Argentine national team on Monday for the 10-day FIFA international window, during which Argentina plays World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Brazil.

Mascherano, a former FC Barcelona teammate of Messi’s who has seen the Argentine icon do amazing things countless times for club and country, pumped his fist when Messi scored, and roared “GOOOOOAAAAL!”

“That was a goal that only he could have scored, the best player in the history of the sport,” Mascherano said of Messi. “There is nothing else to say. He is a player who has the ability to produce the most beautiful goals one can ever see.”

The last time Messi faced Guzan, the veteran former U.S. national team keeper made nine saves against Inter Miami and almost single-handedly knocked the men in pink out of the playoffs.

The score remained tied 1-1 at halftime.

Apple TV featured the game as its “Sunday Night Football” match and commentators played up the rematch narrative, but Mascherano insisted he did not view it as a revenge game.

“I don’t see it as a grudge match,” he said before the game, and repeated afterwards. “I’ve always said that in futbol there are not revenge matches, but rather, opportunities. You can’t get back what happened in the past and what escaped you. I played a World Cup final [which Argentina lost] and did not have another chance to play. That’s how it is. There are always new opportunities.

“Obviously, when you line up against an opponent that eliminated you, it is natural that the players would think, `We want to face them again.’ Because when those things happen, what you want is to play that team again as soon as possible.”

Picault, who came to Inter Miami from Vancouver Whitecaps this season, said the team’s desire is what impresses him most.

“We have a lot of heart,” he said. “We have big name players, but they’re here for the grind. and you can see that in the small plays and in games like this. Then you have a young group that’s motivated and everybody wants to show themselves. More than anything, we’re very united.”

Rocco Rios Novo, who played for Atlanta earlier in his career, started at goalkeeper for Miami ahead of Drake Callender, who was on the bench and had yet to play this season as he recovered from an adductor injury. Oscar Ustari had been starting in Callender’s place but was serving a red card suspension.

The rest of the Miami starters were: Messi, Gonzalo Lujan, Maxi Falcon, Noah Allen, Jordi Alba, Yannick Bright, Sergio Busquets, Tadeo Allende, Telasco Segovia and Luis Suarez. Segovia was subbed out in the 61st minute, replaced by Benja Cremaschi. The second and third subs came in the 83rd minute, Picault for Allende and Fede Redondo for Bright.

Bright, a second-year player out of the University of New Hampshire, continues to impress in his defensive midfield role, playing alongside Busquets.

“Very impressive, and the same for Noah [Allen],” Mascherano said of Bright’s performance. “Those are two players who must make the Inter Miami family proud because they came up from the academy [and college ranks] and played incredible.”

Inter Miami is off until the March 29 home game against Philadelphia Union.

“We got through this tough stretch with so many games, dating to the preseason, but we can’t be satisfied,” Mascherano said. “We will rest a little bit now, recuperate the players who are injured, and hopefully come back with a full squad for Philadelphia.”

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