Lionel Messi's late heroics lead Inter Miami to Leagues Cup final

Lionel Messi scored twice in his return and Inter Miami beat Orlando City 3-1 on Wednesday night to advance to the Leagues Cup final.

Messi was back for the second time in two weeks after a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury.

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Marco Pašalić opened the scoring for Orlando just before halftime, with the play surviving a VAR review for a possible handball.

Messi tied it in the 77th, converting from the penalty spot after Tadeo Allende was pulled down in the box. It was more Messi magic in the 88th when he combined with Jordi Alba to put Miami ahead.

"We are at a loss for words when it comes to discussing Leo," assistant coach Javier Morales said of Messi.

"He trained only two or three days and then (Wednesday) he played 90 minutes and the way he played, created situations, scoring goals. There is nothing more to say. For us, and for the fans, it's a privilege to have him on our team."

Then, to finish it off in a very similar fashion to Messi's second goal, Telasco Segovia gave the ball to Luis Suarez and got it back to put the finishing touch on the victory.

"We are always excited to win and now we have an opportunity to take home a trophy," Morales added. Head coach Javier Mascherano served his red card suspension during the semifinal.

In an expected intense affair, there were nine yellow cards total and one red card given to Orlando City defender David Brekalo.

"Brekalo's (first) yellow card was unbelievable. He doesn't even touch the player [Rodrigo De Paul]," Orlando City coach Óscar Pareja said.

"So this affects a team and affects the players to where the game becomes very difficult."

Inter Miami will be on the road to face Seattle in the final on Sunday after the Sounders beat LA Galaxy 2-0 in Wednesday's second semifinal.

Miami won the 2022 tournament.