Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami were eliminated from the MLS Cup Playoffs on Saturday night after losing 3-2 in the third leg of their first-round tie.

Miami had won the first leg, but lost the second to Atlanta, forcing a decisive third game.

Former Le Havre striker Jamal Thiare hit the post in the 14th minute, but it was the home side who opened the scoring.

Just three minutes after Thiare’s chance begged, Messi saw a powerful shot parried by former American goalkeeper Brad Guzan into the path of Paraguayan winger Matias Rojas.

Rojas scored the opener from an acute angle, but Thiare then scored two goals in three minutes to turn the match on its head.

His first was an unstoppable strike from the edge of the penalty area that fired past goalkeeper Drake Callender.

On the second, Miami’s defense was badly exposed by a simple ball over the top.

Paraguayan international Diego Gomez appeared to have equalized for the home side, setting up a tidy finish under Guzan, but VAR intervened to rule out the goal for offside.

Messi was then denied by a brilliant save from Guzan as Miami continued to hunt for an equalizer.

Then Luis Suarez, looking unrecognizable with bleached blond hair, saw his daring bicycle kick attempt saved.

The second half started with a barely credible save from Guzan. The American somehow managed to keep Jordi Alba’s header out of harm’s way and Suarez was unable to reach the loose ball.

Miami’s equalizer finally came in the 65th minute when Messi, with four Atlanta defenders around him, rose highest to curl in a header from close range. Guzan then got tangled in the net, while Suarez took his chance to share some opinions rather enthusiastically.

Ten minutes later came the decisive moment of the match. With defender Tomas Aviles in the penalty area and the Miami players calling on the referee to stop play, an Atlanta cross floated into the penalty area.

There was no header, but Portuguese left back Pedro Amador arrived on the wing and made a second cross. Still the Miami players waved furiously to stop the match, but Bartosz Slisz played until the whistle and scored the decisive one. header.

Miami pushed for another equalizer and saw two more chances clear the line, but Atlanta held on for a stunning upset.

Inter Miami had finished the season with a record 73 points and won both the MLS Supporters’ Shield and the Eastern Conference, but Atlanta was one of only four teams to beat them in the regular season.

Atlanta advances to the Conference semi-finals, where they will face Orlando City, while Messi’s second season in the United States ends disappointingly.

Former Argentina and Barcelona manager Tata Martino was cautious after the match. He said: “This season has had good and bad things.

“If you think about the expectations we had for these play-offs, we clearly fell a little short. The players are sad, as they should be when there are so many expectations and the team cannot meet them. In this final a Part of the year we had gotten used to achieving the objectives, but we could not achieve the most important ones.”

Spanish legend Alba was frustrated.

He said: “It was a good season, but what we wanted was to win this more. In my opinion, I am not the one who is going to change now. This format seems a bit unfair to me. It is clear that it has been done this way for years done, but if you ask me, if it were up to me, I would have to be the champion of one conference against the champion of the other, to make it as fair as possible, that’s what it is. I repeat: congratulations to the rival team.”