Messi and Inter Miami will take on Atlanta United in an MLS Cup playoff opener

FORT LAUDERDALE:  Inter Miami's Lionel Messi played in only one Major League Soccer loss in 2024. It was in May, at home, against Atlanta United.

Messi makes his MLS playoff debut Friday night — at home, against Atlanta United.

Inter Miami, which set the MLS records for most points and best winning percentage in the regular season, gets a big challenge right out of the gate in the playoffs by facing an Atlanta team in a best-of-three Eastern Conference first-round series. Messi is coming off a hat trick in the regular-season finale, a 6-2 romp past New England.

And even though he missed nearly half the MLS season because of injury and commitments to Argentina's national team, Messi is still a serious contender for league MVP after 20 goals and 16 assists in 19 appearances.

“If I could vote for him, I would have voted for him," Inter Miami defender Julian Gressel said. “Yes, because for me, the MVP stands for the best player in the league. And Leo, is that, by far. You know, there's other people out there that have the definition of an MVP that maybe makes the team better or that a team can't live without. In a sense, to me, Leo is that, too.”

MVP or not, Messi is obviously the key to Inter Miami's MLS Cup hopes.

Friday night will be the first home playoff match in club history. If Inter Miami wins this series, it would stay home for the rest of the season — with home-field edge for the single-game conference semifinals, conference final and MLS Cup, provided it keeps winning.

“This was always about creating history for Miami,” said soccer icon David Beckham, part of Inter Miami's ownership group — and the person who originally announced plans to bring an MLS team back to Miami more than a decade ago. “This was always about our family, La Familia, the people in this stadium, the people in this city.”

Messi's arrival midway through 2023 was the big step toward Inter Miami getting to the global stage. The team won the Leagues Cup last year shortly after Messi arrived, won the Supporters Shield this year as the best MLS regular-season team and now goes after the MLS playoff title.

There are some ties that bind these franchises. Among them: Inter Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino was with Atlanta in 2018 when that team won the MLS Cup, and Gressel played for that Atlanta team as well.

Atlanta got to this series by beating Montreal in a wild-card match Tuesday. Its reward: Messi, again.

“He's arguably the best player that's ever played,” Atlanta United interim coach Rob Valentino said. “We've faced him a few times and we know obviously his qualities, but also at the same time, they have other players that are good, too. There has to be a focus on him — and his teammates around him.”

The stadium almost certainly will be sold out on Friday night and Miami has known for weeks that it would be opening the playoff march on its home field. It might not be the biggest moment in team history — Messi's debut would have to be that — but it's the most significant match of this season, at least in the sense that a best-of-three series doesn't leave much room for error.

“We're kicking off our playoff run, so I think we'll feel it," Inter Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender said. “I think everyone will feel it. And I think there's a reason why we've come this far. We also didn't come this far just to get this far. So, we're going to really just compete and, yeah, Friday, 8:30, it's go time for us.”