LEGENDS! Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba share spotlight again | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

It required a rare confluence of events. Yet in the end, it just felt right that Leo Messi was at Jordi Alba’s side in an Inter Miami kit on Saturday night.

Four days after Alba surprised the world with his announcement this season would be the last of his glittering 16-year career, the iconic Spanish left back was honored by IMCF following their rescheduled match vs. Atlanta United at Chase Stadium.

And he made sure it was a suitably celebratory occasion by scoring the second goal in a 4-0 rout that assures the Herons of at least a third-place finish in the ferocious MLS Eastern Conference, while taking a small bit of revenge on the side that upset them in last year’s postseason.

Iconic duo

Fittingly, it was Messi, the beneficiary of so many incisive assists from Alba across their 400-plus matches together with FC Barcelona and Miami, who played provider. The GOAT pinged a searching long ball into the path of Alba’s run behind the Atlanta defense, the delivery sitting up invitingly for Alba to chip a classy, delicate finish over Five Stripes goalkeeper Jayden Hibbert for the victory-clinching strike.

Alba returned the favor in the dying minutes with a precise pass over the top that Messi collected before calmly firing his MLS-leading 26th goal of the year past Hibbert.

“Thanks to you, Jordi. I’m going to miss you so much,” Messi had commented on Alba’s Instagram post revealing his retirement. “After so much together, it’s going to feel strange to look to my left and not see you there … Who’s going to give me return passes now???”

Indeed, it was the 50th goal Alba and Messi have collaborated on all-time, according to Transfermarkt data (their record together is 278W-62L-74D, averaging an eye-popping 2.19 points per game). And they plan on racking up a few more over the next two months as they aim for an MLS Cup triumph that would allow Alba and their fellow Barça alum Sergio Busquets, who will also retire at year’s end, to ride into the sunset as champions.

“Thanks to all the Inter Miami fans for their support from the first day I arrived, and especially my teammates, all the club's employees, and those behind the pitch who are just as important as the players,” Alba told the home crowd in Spanish in an emotional postgame ceremony, his son Paolo, the youngest of his three children, at his hip.

“This is coming to an end … but we'll try to win to leave the club at the top.”

Messi's dominance

With only pride to play for at the tail end of their bitterly disappointing season, Atlanta’s resistance was broken when Miami exploited an untimely Tristan Muyumba turnover shortly before halftime, Messi curling a trademark left-footed finish into the top corner to surge ahead of LAFC’s Denis Bouanga in the MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi race.

Doubling his night’s tally takes the Argentine legend to 26 goals on the year, and his assist to Alba takes him to a remarkable 44 goal contributions this season with one match left to play. He’s now in pole position for the Golden Boot, depending on what transpires on Decision Day, when LAFC visit Colorado and Miami travel to Nashville, whose spearhead Sam Surridge sits third on the scoring chart with 23 goals.

And Messi wasn’t even supposed to be wearing pink at all this evening, the Herons’ final regular-season home game.

He’d spent all week with the Argentine national team camp as they trained in South Florida ahead of a friendly vs. Venezuela at Hard Rock Stadium on Friday. However, he wasn’t called upon in that game, and with Tuesday’s match against Puerto Rico relocated from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale just a few days ago, the Albiceleste didn’t travel between matches, opening the door for IMCF to request his services.

“Yesterday, before the match, I talked to [Argentina manager Lionel] Scaloni, and he said no, that he was not going to use him, that he was going to sit him down. And I spoke to Leo to see if he could play,” explained Mascherano. “It was his decision, and clearly he saw the opportunity that if he wasn't going to play against Venezuela yesterday, we could use him. Leo, of course, was ready to do it.

“He is a very special player, he's an icon, and even though he didn't train last week with us, we saw what he did today. He has helped us to win, he managed to score. That for him was important.”

Arriving hard on the heels of Busquets’ decision, the end of the Alba-Messi connection portends a changing of the guard at IMCF. Now their mission is ensuring the era ends in glory, at the business end of the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs.

“It's a privilege for me, with him and Busi, to be able to come back with them after seven years, to continue to live with them day to day, to share with them day to day,” said his former teammate Mascherano of Alba. “Unfortunately, perhaps I am the last coach for them … that makes me a bit nostalgic.

“He's been one of the best in history.”

WATCH: Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Jordi Alba put on SHOW!