Lionel Messi's Brace, Full Highlights from Miami's Historic 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs Win

Lionel Messi continued to terrorize Nashville SC on the pitch as Inter Miami advanced to the conference semifinals in the MLS Cup playoffs.

The presumptive MVP winner scored in the 10th and 39th minutes with Miami cruising to a 4-0 victory in the decisive third game of a best-of-three series.

Messi beat Nashville goalkeeper Joe Willis with a low shot into the right corner to put his side ahead early. He doubled Miami's lead after Mateo Silvetti got in behind the Nashville defense and laid the ball off perfectly just outside the 18-yard box.

Nashville will be disappointed its season is now over. One silver lining is that the Boys in Gold won't have to see Messi again until 2026.

The 38-year-old had a hat trick in Miami's 5-2 win over Nashville SC to close out the regular season. He scored twice more as the Herons took Game 1 in the opening round and had their only goal in a Game 2 defeat.

Maybe Messi has something against country music because he relished his encounters with Nashville this fall.

Miami meets FC Cincinnati in the next round, with the playoffs adopting a single-elimination format moving forward.

The teams faced off twice in July. Cincinnati won 3-0 on July 16 before they played to a 0-0 stalemate 10 days later. Messi missed the second meeting through a one-game suspension for skipping the MLS All-Star Game.

Anything can happen in a one-off knockout tie, but that plays into Inter Miami's hands when one moment of brilliance from Messi is all it takes to dramatically change a match.