Inter Miami has reached the quarterfinals of the Leagues Cup thanks to Luis Suarez. The striker took over for Lionel Messi in the 3-1 win over UNAM Pumas.
Inter Miami can continue to dream of a second Leagues Cup title. On Wednesday night (CEST), coach Javier Mascherano’s team reached the quarterfinals of the competition, which they won outright in 2023 on their first appearance. In the 3-1 victory over Mexican first division side UNAM Pumas, Luis Suarez was the man of the moment in the absence of the injured Lionel Messi.
The 38-year-old Uruguayan found three quick responses to Jorge Ruvalcaba’s 34th-minute opener. Before the break, Suarez served his new teammate Rodrigo de Paul with a cross that the Argentine, signed from Atletico Madrid, converted with a clever outside-of-the-foot finish for his debut goal for Inter.
In the second half, Suarez turned the game around himself by confidently converting a handball penalty with a cheeky Panenka (59). De Paul’s compatriot Tadeo Allende put the icing on the cake by deflecting a through ball into the goal. Suarez had played the ball, ending the final group game with three points.
After a 2-1 win against Atlas Guadalajara in their opening game and a 5-4 victory on penalties against CID Necaxa, which earned them two points, Inter are through to the quarter-finals, but their opponents are yet to be decided. The only thing that is certain is that the first knockout game will take place on August 19 or 20 at their home ground, Chase Stadium.
Miami’s next opponent celebrates a 5-1 victory thanks to veteran Muriel
Messi suffered a muscle injury to his right thigh against Necaxa. It remains to be seen whether he will be available for Monday’s MLS away game at Orlando City (2 a.m. CEST). Orlando welcomes Inter on the back of a 5-1 win over CID Necaxa, in which former Serie A and La Liga striker Luis Muriel scored a hat-trick.
All 18 Mexican first division teams and 18 of the 30 MLS teams are competing in the Leagues Cup. This season, for the first time, the preliminary round will be played in two leagues, with each team playing three games against teams from the other league, thus avoiding matches between teams from the same national league. The incentive: the Leagues Cup finalists and the winner of the third-place play-off qualify for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the equivalent of the Champions League for clubs from North and Central America and the Caribbean.