Lionel Messi in Ohio: How many times he has played in the Buckeye State

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Argentine soccer legend Lionel Messi will complete the Ohio “C’s” for his passport when he plays this weekend in Cleveland with Inter Miami against the Columbus Crew.

Since joining Miami in 2023, Messi has played all over the United States and will make his third trip to the Buckeye State on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. The Crew and Herons enter this game at Huntington Bank Field undefeated in MLS play.

The 37-year-old World Cup champion has played twice before in Ohio: once in Cincinnati and once in Columbus. Here is a look at the previous two.

Aug. 23, 2023: at FC Cincinnati in U.S. Open Cup

A few days after winning the Leagues Cup final in Nashville, Messi was in Cincinnati to face FCC in a semifinal of the U.S. Open Cup at TQL Stadium. The game turned out to be one of the craziest Ohio has ever seen.

After going down 2-0, Messi helped to engineer a comeback with his brilliant crossing, assisting Leonardo Campana twice to tie the score. Campana’s second goal came in the seventh minute of second half stoppage time to send the match to extra time.

Miami carried that momentum by scoring the first goal in extra time after just three minutes through Josef Martinez. Cincinnati did not let up as Yuya Kubo tied the score in the 114th minute at 3-3 to send the game to a penalty-kick shootout.

Both teams scored on their first four attempts, with Messi converting the first for Miami. Fortunes changed when Cincinnati’s Nick Hagglund had his penalty saved by Drake Callender, setting up Benjamin Cremaschi to score the winner for Miami.

The Herons then lost in the U.S. Open Cup final to the Houston Dynamo.

Oct. 2, 2024: at Crew in MLS regular season

Columbus finally got to host Messi toward the end of the 2024 MLS regular season. Miami and the Crew cemented themselves as the best teams in the league with the winner set to enter the playoffs as the MLS Cup favorite.

In front of a sold-out crowd at Lower.com Field, both teams were energetic in the attack, but the first goal didn’t come until the 45th minute as Messi put one past Patrick Schulte. Lightning struck twice as Messi was given a free kick in a dangerous area in stoppage time of the first half.

In typical Messi fashion, he curled it into the net and gave Miami a 2-0 lead. Crew winger Diego Rossi gave Columbus a goal 30 seconds into the second half before Luis Suarez made it 3-1 for Miami two minutes later.

After a Cucho Hernandez penalty with 29 minutes to go, the Crew was down to 10 players after Rudy Camacho received a red card. The Crew pushed for the tying goal, but Miami held on to win and clinch the MLS’ Supporters Shield for the best regular season points total, eventually leading it to a spot in the Club World Cup.

Despite both sides ending the season as the two best, each lost in the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs.