Reigning Super Bowl MVP and Sporting Kansas City co-owner Patrick Mahomes made the familiar trip to Arrowhead Stadium to watch his soccer team take on Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami on Saturday night, but rumors that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce would join him turned out to be unfounded.
To accommodate Messimania in Kansas City, the game was moved from the club’s usual stadium, Children’s Mercy Park (capacity 18,467), to the Kansas City Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium (76,416), which will also host the Kansas City Chiefs’ game this summer. the Copa America group stage between the United States men’s national team and Uruguay on July 1. Sporting Kansas City played its home games at Arrowhead from 1996 to 2008. official presence On Saturday night, there were 72,610 spectators, setting a new club record for Sporting KC and the largest attendance ever for a football game in Missouri.
Mahomes greeted Messi before the game, with Chiefs head coach Andy Reid looking on.
The best of Fútbol 🤝 the best of football.
Leo Messi joins Patrick Mahomes at Arrowhead Stadium. pic.twitter.com/jn7gLERIDl
– Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 14, 2024
But Swift and Kelce weren’t in attendance, as social media users’ attempts to predict which events they would attend suffered a second straight blow (on Friday night, many seemed to think Swift would make a difference). appearance of a special guest during my friend Lana Del Rey’s Coachella headlining set, but that didn’t happen either). The hopes of the NFL power couple attending Saturday’s game were fueled when MLS Season Pass color commentator for the game, Taylor Twellman, indicated he thought it would happen.
Taylor Swift x Messi??? 🐐🐐
-Jillian Sakovits (@JillianSakovits) April 12, 2024
Sporting Kansas City took an early 1-0 lead when Erik Thommy scored in the sixth minute, but it didn’t take much longer for Messi to make his presence felt with a perfect pass to Diego Gomez to legalization.
Messi’s vision. End of Gomez.
All committed to Arrowhead Stadium! This game so far… 😮💨
📺 #MLSSaisonPass: pic.twitter.com/c4MkVaeVSW
– Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 14, 2024
After several near misses in the first half, Messi scored a stunning goal from distance to put Miami up 2-1 in the 51st minute.
MESSI MAGIC AT ARROWHEAD STADIUM ✨
What. A blow. pic.twitter.com/E3ax584Nw9
– Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 14, 2024
Thommy brought Sporting KC within 2-2 with his second goal of the match, but Luis Suarez scored his sixth goal of the season in the 70th minute to give Miami a 3-2 lead, which ended up being the final score. The result ended Miami’s five-game winless streak in MLS and the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
(Top photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)