Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi were on target as Inter Miami marched into the last eight of the CONCACAF Champions Cup with a 3-1 (5-3 aggregate) win over Nashville on Wednesday.
Messi set up Suarez for the eighth-minute opener and then the Argentine found the target himself in the 23rd minute.
But the eight-times Ballon d’Or winner was substituted in the 50th minute before his replacement Robert Taylor made sure of the victory with a 63rd-minute header.
Inter Miami coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino said Messi’s withdrawal, when he did not appear to limp or be in discomfort, was due to a concern about his hamstring.
“He has an overload in his right hamstring. So we didn’t want to take any risks. We tried to see if he could hold on a bit longer but it was bothering him and we preferred to take him out of the game,” he said.
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