Messi Benched, Miami Blanked: Red Bulls Beat Inter Miami 2-0 to Climb Above the Playoff Line

HARRISON, N.J.

Inter Miami brought Lionel Messi to New Jersey and kept him on the bench for 56 minutes. By then they were already losing, and they never stopped. A Casemiro own goal in the seventh minute and an Emil Forsberg finish in the first minute of stoppage time — from a man who had been on the field for six minutes — gave the New York Red Bulls a 2–0 win that lifted them above the Eastern Conference playoff line and left the league's glamour side scoreless.

Seven minutes to a lead

The opener was a Miami goal scored on themselves. A low cross across the six-yard box took a deflection off Miami midfielder Casemiro and fell into the bottom-left corner — 1–0 in the seventh minute, and a Red Bulls side that began the day clinging to the ninth and final postseason spot in the East had something to protect.

They nearly had more. Julian Hall headed over alone in the centre of the box on 18 minutes and saw a right-footed shot blocked by Micael Dos Santos on 40; Ronald Donkor forced a stop from Dayne St. Clair. Field Level Media counted 18 New York shot attempts despite the Red Bulls holding only 37.5 percent of the ball — the game was played on their terms: Miami's possession, New York's chances.

The Messi cameo

Messi had spent Friday in Spain accepting the Princess of Asturias Award for Sport, and Miami held him back until the 56th minute. What followed was the strangest stat of the night: Ethan Horvath did not face a single shot from him. Messi took a pair of corner kicks, was blocked by Dylan Nealis right after the second goal, and watched a match his team never got back.

Horvath's clean sheet — his fifth of the season — was built on two saves, the sharpest a kick save on Sergio Reguilón's header in the 83rd minute, off a pass from Messi. Miami, who had won their previous three matches this month by a combined 9–1 and gone 3-0-1 in the previous four meetings with New York, outscoring them 17–6, were shut out.

Forsberg, six minutes on, game over

Emil Forsberg entered in the 85th minute, an injury replacement for Adri Mehmeti. In the first minute of stoppage time he ended the match: Ronald Donkor won the ball in Miami's defensive third and played in Cameron Harper down the right; Harper's cross found Forsberg unmarked in the centre of the box, and the lofted right-footed finish over St. Clair made it 2–0. It was Forsberg's fourth goal of the season, his 24th in MLS, and his first since August 15.

Donkor's assist was his 10th of the season — at 21 years and 338 days, the youngest player in franchise history to record 10 or more assists in a single season, according to the Red Bulls' official match recap. Harper's was his second assist of the season.

What it means

New York (11-14-6, 39 points) bounced back from consecutive losses and moved into eighth in the East, above the playoff line, before a crowd of 26,287, per the club's official recap. Miami (15-6-10, 55 points) dropped to 4-2-4 in their past ten, and a night that was supposed to be about Messi's return became a night about the team that beat his team without him starting — and finished the job after he came on.

New York's midweek trip is to New England on Wednesday, October 28 — the Revolution side that ended Philadelphia's 15-match unbeaten run on the same Saturday night.

Full box score, linescore and play-by-play: Game Center — Inter Miami at Red Bull New York. More: MLS coverage · Stats Hub