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Inter Miami star Jordi Alba has voiced his displeasure over the MLS format after getting eliminated, and made a suggestion about changing it. He called the current format "unfair" after Atlanta United eliminated his team from the tournament. Miami's postseason run came to an end on Saturday night as they lost 2-3 to Atlanta at Chase Stadium in the third and deciding game of the best-of-three playoff series in round one.
Naturally, the former Barcelona left-back was upset about the loss along with his teammates, who were all incensed that the referee had not given the Herons a penalty in the first half, and Atlanta scored their third goal when defender Tomas Aviles appeared to be injured. After winning the Eastern Conference during the regular season with Inter Miami, the Spaniard also questioned the competition's structure.
“Good season, but format seems unfair,” Alba after elimination
Following the 3-2 loss for Inter Miami on Saturday, Alba during the interview claimed that the team wanted to win the match, but the format seemed unfair. "It was a good season, but what we wanted was to win this more," Alba said post-match. "This format seems a little unfair to me."
"It is clear that it has been done this way for many years, but if you ask me, if it were up to me, it would have to be the champion of one conference against the champion of the other, to make it as fair as possible, that's how it is," Alba continued. "I repeat congratulations to the rival team. I think they competed very well against us; they knew their weapons and the goalkeeper was spectacular and good, I think that is what marked the difference."
Record-breaking MLS season for Inter Miami
Alba's Miami won the Supporters' Shield after finishing the Eastern Conference regular season with a record 74 points after 22 wins from 34 games. However, they lost this weekend in the first round of the playoffs. Miami won't be able to win this competition for the first time until 2025.
Messi and co in their first round of matches in the MLS Cup faced against Atlanta United. In this three-game series, the Herons won by 2-1, but lost the remaining two fixtures. Since the following Major League Soccer season won't begin until February 2025, Alba and his Miami teammates will have to go through the pain of loss for months. The club has the option to extend his contract by an additional 12 months as it expires at the end of the current year.
