A few louse Suarez sentences were enough for Inter Miami to beat Tigres Uanl with 2-1 in their quarterfinals of the Leagues Cup, with Lionel Messi absent due to injury.
Messi returned from a muscle problem to play a leading role of the couch in Saturday’s 3-1 victory over the La Galaxy, but afterwards coach Javier Mascherno admitted that the attacker was not completely comfortable.
He was a spectator in Chase Stadium on Wednesday when Miami took a 23rd minute lead. The cross of Jordi Alba hit Javier Aquino’s arm on a point-white range, and although the price of the penalty was somewhat hard, Suarez made no mistake by finding the top right corner.
Miami was the better side during the first half, but was unable to add to their advantage, and they saw Mascherano sent to the stands just before the interval after his furious reaction to the amount of interruption time displayed by the fourth civil servant.
Diego Lainez hit the outside of the post with a fierce battle from a distance after the break, and the improvement of Tigres was rewarded in the 67th minute.
Angel Correa was all too easy through Gonzalo Ujan, then the weak finish of the former Atletico Madrid Forward under Oscar Ustari and in.
Miami also saw Alba leave with a lower leg injury and only a strong near-post saving from Ustari prevented Correa from getting his brace.
However, Suarez was the competition winner, with another Aquino handball that gave him a second penalty. The Spot-Kick was awarded after a long VAR review, even though the ball seemed to bend his arm and Suarez slid home in the 89th minute.
The 2023 Leagues Cup champions survived a huge fear in the stop time when the header of Edgar Lopez hit both posts and simply did not exceed the border, and they will now follow the rivals of Florida Orlando in the semi-final in the semi-final next week.
Orlando achieved their place in the last four through a penalty shoot-out, which was held for a scoreless draw by Toluca. Goalkeeper Pedro Gallese was the hero and saved two penalties and then scored one of his own penalties while Orlando triumphed 6-5.
All four semi-finalists come from MLS, where the Seattle Sounders Puebla defeated 4-3 on penalties after another 0-0 draw.
The sounders had sent Danny Musovski in the 76th minute, but fought on to Spot-Kicks, where Andrew Thomas made two rescues to help Seattle.
They will come across the La Galaxy, who conquered Pachuca 2-1. A Alonso Aceves own goal and a clinical Marco Reus strike raised the hosts 2-0, making Alemao’s late effort a purely comfort.
Following: @Leaguecup Semi -final pic.twitter.com/q6e7lena1t
– La Galaxy (@lagalaxy) August 21, 2025
Debrief data: no messi, no problem?
Without their eight times Ballon d’Or winner, Miami registered more shots (14 to 13), shot on goal (four to two) and expected goals (2.24 xg to 0.78) than Tigres.
However, a huge part of their XG came from two penalties that were demonstrably hard, and they will be desperate to recover Messi for the semi -final.
Miami was hit 4-1 by Orlando when Messi missed the most recent Florida Derby on 10 August. The herons visit DC United on Sunday in MLS before they reunite with their rivals.
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