MIAMI, Feb 26, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Lionel Messi was on target again as Inter Miami surged into the CONCACAF Champions Cup last 16 with a 3-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Tuesday, winning the tie 4-1 on aggregate.

Messi scored in the 1-0 first-leg win in icy Kansas City last week and it took him only 19 minutes to find the target at a much warmer Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale in the return.

Messi's former Barcelona team-mate Luis Suarez chipped the ball across to the Argentine, who was given too much space by the Sporting defence and punished them by burying the ball into the bottom corner.

The visitors thought that they had levelled when Dejan Joveljic, a recent signing from Los Angeles Galaxy, had the ball in the net after rounding Miami keeper Oscar Ustari, but the striker was ruled offside.

Miami doubled their advantage in the first minute of first-half stoppage time when Messi sent Jordi Alba down the left and the Spaniard's low cross was turned in from close range by Tadeo Allende.

Miami made it 3-0 on the night and 4-0 on aggregate two minutes later when a dreadful miskicked clearance from Jacob Davis flew across his own area and Suarez hooked the bouncing ball into the corner.

Kansas City got a goal back in the 63rd minute when Memo Rodriguez's long-range effect deflected off the back of Maximiliano Falcon and past the wrong-footed Ustari.

Miami will face Jamaican club Cavalier, the Caribbean Cup champions, in the next round with the first leg to be played in Florida in the first week of March.