Playing exceptionally well, Messi still cannot carry Inter Miami.

Lionel Messi's Inter Miami disappoints with an early elimination from the 2026 Champions Cup, dropping four places in the CONCACAF Club Rankings.

Before the MLS 2026 season and the Champions Cup commenced in February, CONCACAF released a new ranking with Inter Miami placed third, the highest among MLS teams and only behind Toluca and Cruz Azul. However, just two months later, the situation has significantly changed for "The Herons".

Cruz Azul surpassed Toluca to become the top team in the region, while Inter Miami fell from third to seventh place. Messi's team was overtaken by Seattle Sounders, LAFC, Club America, and Tigres UANL, all clubs that advanced deep into the quarter-finals of this season's Champions Cup.

The shock named Nashville

According to CONCACAF, the ranking is calculated based on a weighted points system, including performance in domestic leagues, national cups, continental tournaments, and international competitions. Inter Miami previously climbed to third place thanks to winning the MLS Cup 2025, but recent results have caused them to lose their advantage.

The heaviest blow came in the Champions Cup, where Messi and his teammates entered directly into the round of 16 but were unexpectedly eliminated early by Nashville SC. Combined with inconsistent form in MLS (3 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss), Inter Miami's position has clearly weakened.

Is Inter Miami relying too much on Messi?

The drop in ranking also reflects a larger issue in Inter Miami's operation, as the team has not achieved one of its main goals for the 2026 season. The problem is not Messi's individual performance, but the team's excessive reliance on the Argentine superstar.

After 6 matches in MLS, Inter Miami has scored 11 goals, among which Messi leads the scoring list with 5 goals. No other player has scored more than one goal; the rest are distributed among several names like Mateo Silvetti, Telasco Segovia, Rodrigo De Paul, Gonzalo Luján, Micael, and most recently Luis Suárez. Meanwhile, key forwards like Tadeo Allende and German Berterame disappoint by not yet finding their scoring form.

The inefficiency of the supporting players is further highlighted by Messi's own statistics. Despite having an expected assists (xA) value of 1.71 according to SofaScore and averaging 2.2 key passes per match, he still has no assists after 5 appearances in MLS.

After the 2025 season where they scored 81 goals in 34 matches (averaging 2.4 goals per match), Inter Miami's current efficiency is only 1.8 goals per match. This indicates the team is performing below expectations, and coach Javier Mascherano must find a solution soon.