When you’re down 2-0 with less than 55 minutes to go in a two-legged quarterfinal, there’s one man you can count on above the rest to turn your fortunes around: World Cup and eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi.

Matters were made worse in just the ninth minute when LAFC center-back Aaron Long brilliantly connected on an errant ball to make it 2-0 on aggregate, forcing Miami to score at least three goals. It took under 20 minutes to pull one back,