Lionel Messi and Inter Miami suffered a blow in their hopes of winning back-to-back Supporters’ Shields after a 1-1 draw at Toronto FC on Saturday.
Miami (16-6-8), which clinched a playoff spot midweek, came into the game 28 points above Toronto in the Eastern Conference. But Djordje Mihailovic scored in the 60th minute for his first goal for Toronto to give the Canadian club its seventh straight draw after Tadeo Allende scored in first-half stoppage time for Miami.
Messi had scored five of Miami’s 10 goals in its three previous wins but he was frustrated at BMO Field as he failed to find the net, despite having six shots, four of them on target.
The result means that Miami’s Supporters’ Shield fate is no longer in its own hands as it chases down the Philadelphia Union with four games remaining.
“I think we deserved to win,” Miami head coach Javier Mascherano told a news conference. “We had the most clear chances during the game.
“Maybe we had 10, 15 minutes in the second half where we were a little bit confused. But in the end, we had the game under control, keeping the ball, attacking. I think their goalkeeper [Sean Johnson] was the man of the match.
“So it’s hard because we came here to win because we wanted to go up in the standings, but we have to move forward. We have four more games, so we try to win all the games and try to finish as high as possible.”
Lionel Messi and Inter Miami were left frustrated in a 1-1 draw at Toronto FC on Saturday.
Michael Chisholm/Getty Images
Toronto (5-13-13) has conceded just six goals during its seven consecutive draws but it is now winless in its last nine games at 0-2-7, with its last victory coming on July 16.
All looked to be going well for Miami when Jordi Alba’s cross went just over the head of Kosi Thompson and Allende headed it home for his ninth goal of the season.
Mihailovic pulled Toronto even. Richie Laryea got to a Jonathan Osorio pass before it went out of bounds and sent the ball back across the goal for an unmarked Mihailovic to tap in his first goal since his $8 million move from the Colorado Rapids last month.
Toronto goalkeeper Johnson made a nice save to deny Messi’s right-footed shot in the 29th. Johnson denied Messi again in the 44th. There were two more great saves in the second half, including Messi’s free kick from the edge of the box.
Miami midfielder Sergio Busquets, who announced this week that he will retire at the end of this season, was replaced in the 71st minute.
“As for Busquets, we saw that he was fatigued,” Mascherano said. “We wanted to add in fresh legs in the midfield with the substitution of Yannick Bright and also start managing minutes because we play again in three days.
“So we have to move a bit, manage, try to take off the players because the wear is very big. That’s it.”
Saturday’s game drew an announced crowd of 28,855 for the first sellout of the season for Toronto.
Information from ESPN’s Lizzy Becherano and The Associated Press was used in this report.
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