Featured Image Credit: Getty/Franco Panizo via X
Topics: Inter Miami, MLS, Lionel Messi
Chris Byfield
Inter Miami fans were embarrassed by the one thing the club did after the Florida side were knocked out of the MLS playoffs by Atlanta United.
On Saturday, Miami suffered a shock first round exit in the MLS play-offs, losing 3-2 to Atlanta in a best-of-three decider in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Miami, who boast former Barcelona icons Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba among their ranks, finished the regular season with a record 74 points from 34 games in the Eastern Conference.
Miami took the lead at Chase Stadium through Matias Rojas, before Atlanta netted two goals in two minutes courtesy of Jamal Thiare. Despite Messi then equalising with a header, Bartosz Slisz converted the winner.
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In the wake of the upset, however, Chase Stadium let off fireworks at full-time, an decision one fan labelled as “lamentable and embarrassing”.
On X, Inter Miami supporter and podcaster Franco Panizo posted footage of the fireworks accompanied with the caption: “What The… For some reason Chase Stadium let off fireworks after the game went final.
“Guess the pyrotechnic wanted to make sure the job was done one way or another… Lamentable and embarrassing.”
Atlanta scraped into the play-offs by finishing ninth in the Eastern Conference and then beating Montreal on penalties in a wildcard game.
Meanwhile, Miami were named among the 32 sides in next year's expanded Fifa Club World Cup on account of being one of the “best 32 clubs in the world”.
"They are now officially one of the 32 best clubs in the world, already after a few years since their existence," said Fifa president Gianni Infantino.
"And now they can start writing their story also on the global stage."
Ninth-seeded Atlanta will play fourth-seed Orlando City in the Eastern Conference semi-final, while sixth-seeded New York City FC will take on the seventh-seeded New York Red Bulls in the other semi-final.