Fact-Check: No, Thiago Messi Didn’t Score 11 Goals in a Match

February 13, 2025 5:53 PM

After spending 20 years at Barcelona, Lionel Messi joined Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in 2021. Two seasons later, in 2023, he moved to the Major League Soccer (MLS) club Inter Miami CF in the United States, where his eldest son, Thiago Messi, began playing for the junior team.

Recently, a claim surfaced on social media stating that Thiago Messi scored 11 goals against Atlanta United in the U-13 MLS Cup. Various international media outlets, along with renowned football journalist Fabrizio Romano, shared this claim.

Check out the Facebook post by journalist Fabrizio Romano making the same claim, here.

See more posts circulated on Facebook here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), and here (archive)।

Watch a video making the same claim on YouTube here (archive).
See posts making the same claim on X here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), and here (archive)।

Fact-check

According to the investigation by the Rumor Scanner team, the claim that Thiago Messi scored 11 goals against Atlanta United in the U-13 MLS Cup is false. No official MLS data, match reports, or credible sources confirm this claim. Additionally, several sports journalists have also verified it as a rumor.

To fact-check this claim, the social media profiles of Inter Miami Football Club and Major League Soccer (MLS) were reviewed. However, no such information was found. Typically, football leagues highlight extraordinary performances on their social media platforms, but in this case, no official post was observed. Moreover, there is no visible evidence or video footage supporting the claim that Thiago Messi scored 11 goals in a single match.

A review of the official MLS website further revealed that there is currently no tournament called the “U-13 MLS Cup” for under-13 teams. As a result, there is no possibility of Inter Miami’s U-13 team participating in such a competition.

Furthermore, an online search did not yield any recent match information for the U13 teams of Inter Miami and Atlanta United. No reports regarding such a match were found on either club’s official website or in sports news outlets.

According to a widely circulated photo card on social media, Thiago Messi allegedly scored 11 out of 12 goals for Inter Miami, with the remaining goal attributed to a player named “Diego Luna Jr.” However, no player by that name exists in Inter Miami’s U13 squad.

Regarding the truth behind this claim, American sports journalist Michelle Kaufman stated in an X post that it is completely baseless and that no such match ever took place. She explained that some fan websites fabricated and spread this rumor.

Additionally, Spanish football journalist Guillem Balagué, who has authored biographies of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, also confirmed that the claim is false.

Several international news outlets and fact-checking websites have reported that no such event occurred. The rumor initially originated from an X account and later spread across multiple platforms.

Therefore, the claim that Thiago Messi scored 11 goals in a single match is entirely false.