Lionel Messi helped Columbus Crew set a historic record in their loss to Inter Miami in round 9 of MLS.

Early morning of April 20, Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates traveled to visit Columbus Crew in round 9 of the US Major League Soccer (MLS).

If Messi and his teammates had made better use of the dangerous opportunities they had, Inter Miami would have won by a bigger margin than the final score of 1-0 against Columbus. The only goal was scored in the 30th minute, by Benjamin Cremaschi.

This victory helped Inter Miami rise to the top of the MLS standings, even though they have the same 18 points as Columbus but have a better goal difference (+7 compared to +5). In addition, Inter Miami is also the only team in MLS 2025 that is still undefeated at this point.

Notably, Messi’s presence at Huntington Bank Field helped Columbus Crew set a record for the largest crowd in an MLS match.

” The Columbus Crew welcomed 60,614 spectators to watch Lionel Messi and Inter Miami at the home of NFL team Cleveland Browns, about a two-hour drive north of Columbus’ Lower.com Field, setting a new attendance record for the club.

This number broke the team’s previous record of 31,550 – set during a 2-0 win over the New York/New Jersey MetroStars at Ohio Stadium in MLS’s inaugural season in 1996 ,” the MLS website shared.

It is known that Columbus Crew’s home field is Lower.com Field. However, to serve the large audience coming to the field to watch Messi play, Columbus Crew decided to borrow Huntintgon Bank Field in Cleveland city, 2 hours away from home field to organize this match.

Huntington Bank Field is a football stadium and rarely hosts soccer events, so the Columbus Crew’s record also helped the stadium set a record for attendance for a non-football game.

It can be seen that although Messi did not score or assist, he still created a passionate atmosphere at Huntington Bank Field. According to statistics, he played 90 minutes, had an 80% passing rate and created 2 opportunities for his teammates.