The end was abrupt and painful. On Saturday night in South Florida, the locker room was somber. And somewhere amid the haze of the biggest upset in Major League Soccer history, a startling reality set in: Lionel Messi will enter the final guaranteed year of his MLS contract without a single playoff series victory.

Lionel Messi and Inter Miami suffered a shock elimination in the first round of the Major League Soccer (MLS) playoffs on Saturday, losing 3-2 to No. 9 seed Atlanta United on home soil in the best-of-three series decider. Miami midfielder Matías Rojas ...

With the loss, a season full of promise and championship expectations for Inter Miami has come to an end, and it will ultimately go down as a season where the club wasted a year of having Messi at their disposal. After the game, head coach Gerardo Martino kept it real when discussing Messi's future with the team.