"Such an honor to meet my idol" - MLS star posts message for Lionel Messi after Inter Miami beat Philadelphia Union

Philadelphia Union midfielder Cavan Sullivan took to social media and uploaded a picture with Inter Miami star Lionel Messi. He lauded the Argentine ace as his idol.

Returning from an injury, Messi played his first match for Inter Miami after 105 days on Saturday, September 14. Messi suffered an injury during Agrentina's 1-0 victory over Columbia in the 2024 Copa America final.

Making a return to MLS, the 37-year-old scored a brace and provided an assist in the 3-1 win over Philadelphia. Mikael Uhre scored in the second minute to hand Philadelphia an early lead before Messi netted the equalizer in the 26th minute.

The Argentina superstar scored his second four minutes later to give Inter Miami a 2-1 lead. He also provided the assist for Luis Suarez's goal in the added time (90+8'). Lionel Messi maintained a passing accuracy of 82% and created three chances.

After the match, the official Instagram account of the Philadelphia Union uploaded a picture of the 37-year-old and young American midfielder Cavan Sullivan. The 14-year-old also shared the post on his Instagram story, where he wrote:

"Such an honor to meet my idol"

He also shared a picture with Lionel Messi's poster and Ballon d'Or in his story.

"I miss nights like this" - Lionel Messi posts on social media after his stellar performance against Philadelphia

Argentine playmaker Lionel Messi took to Instagram and uploaded a post after Inter Miami recorded a resounding 3-1 victory over Philadelphia Union.

Returning from an injury, Messi scored two goals and assisted once. He has been in fine form this season, recording 14 goals and 10 assists in 13 MLS games.

"I miss nights like this. We keep adding together to achieve our goals." Messi captioned his post on Instagram.

Messi's Inter Miami are atop the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer with 62 points from 28 matches.