Messi in the 83rd. Because of course.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — For 68 minutes on Sunday night, this was New England's game. For the last 22, it was Lionel Messi's, and that was the whole story.

Inter Miami's 2-1 comeback win at Gillette Stadium was built in two touches of the same right boot's supply line: Messi crossed for Germán Berterame's equalizer in the 69th minute, then scored the winner himself in the 83rd, picking up a loose ball some 30 yards from goal, slaloming through the Revolution defense and finishing low and left-footed past Matt Turner.

New England had earned their lead. The Revolution controlled a scoreless first half — six shots, five corners, and nothing to show for it — before Dániel Gazdag broke through in the 53rd minute. Peyton Miller beat Gonzalo Luján down the right and slid the ball across, Ilay Feingold backheeled it on, and Gazdag finished first-time past Dayne St. Clair from close range.

The first half had been a warning Miami never quite answered. New England's expected-goals count read 0.75 by the break — pressure without a payoff, the kind of half that either becomes a platform or a regret. The goal, when it came, ran down a right side the Revolution had been working all night: Miller, the young winger, got outside Luján, and Feingold's backheel turned a good cross into an unmissable one. Marko Mitrović's side had done everything a home team is supposed to do to a visiting contender — controlled the ball, owned the territory, scored first. What they had not done was score twice, and against this opponent, one was never likely to be enough.

Miami nearly answered in kind in the 65th minute, when Messi forced Turner into a diving stop and Berterame's rebound was cleared off the line by Brooklyn Raines. Four minutes later the pressure told anyway: Messi's cross from the right, Berterame's deft backward header, 1-1. Luis Suárez — who had started Miami's previous 25 matches — came off the bench right after the equalizer, and the game tilted for good.

The Suárez detail deserves its own line, because it framed the whole night. Miami's first change, in the 70th minute, was a striker who had started the club's previous 25 matches — Cristian Gonzalez had held his most decorated finisher in reserve and still found himself level within four minutes of the equalizer arriving without him. Both teams had lined up in a 4-3-3; both had their captains in the middle of everything, Carles Gil pulling New England's strings and Messi wearing Miami's armband. The difference, in the end, was not shape or effort. It was that one of those captains could decide a match in two touches, fourteen minutes apart.

Even the winner needed a reprieve. In the 87th minute, an apparent Ian Fray own goal looked to have rescued a point for New England, only for video review to rule Luca Langoni offside on the play and wipe it away.

Watch: the official match recap

The receipts are what make the night bigger than a highlight. Miami's win lifts them to 59 points (16-6-11), past New England's 58 (18-11-4), into second place in the Eastern Conference with a single matchday remaining — Miami close at home against Charlotte FC on Decision Day, Nov. 7, while New England travel to Orlando City. The win also clinched Miami's place in the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup, alongside Nashville SC, New England and Vancouver Whitecaps. Every number from this one lives in the Game Center.

Read the full-match numbers and the result still looks like a theft. New England held 54.9 percent of the ball, took seven corners to Miami's one, and committed six fouls to Miami's sixteen. Miami's edge was narrower and sharper: fourteen shots to thirteen, and six on target to New England's three. That is the profile of a veteran side that spent the night fouling to break rhythm, defending its box, and waiting for the two moments its captain would manufacture — and it is why the Champions Cup place matters beyond one Sunday. Miami join Nashville SC, New England and Vancouver Whitecaps in the 2027 field, with the 2026 MLS Cup winner also earning a place; second seed in the East, with a home finale against Charlotte to protect it, is exactly where a team built around Messi wants to be standing when Decision Day arrives.

For the Revolution, a four-match winning streak ends, along with a quieter mark: it was their first loss this season after being ahead or tied in the 75th minute. Miami, for their part, snapped a two-match winless run. Messi's winner was his MLS-leading 26th goal of the season — an assist and a goal, 14 minutes apart, to trade places with the team he beat.