Messi scores winning goal for Miami in stoppage time in debut game | Foreign football

The game was played at a sold-out 21,000-capacity DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the home of Inter Miami an hour north of downtown Miami. The game was played as part of the Leagues Cup, a tournament that has existed since 2019. It is seen as a friendly tournament with clubs from the American MLS and the Liga MX, the Mexican league.

Messi started on the reserve bench on Friday evening, but came on shortly after the start of the second half. In addition to the Argentinian superstar, his former Barcelona teammate, Spanish midfielder Sergio Busquets, also started on the reserve bench.

In the 52nd minute it was finally time: with a 1-0 lead, the Argentinian with shirt number 10 entered the ‘sacred grass’ of Fort Lauderdale. But Martino’s team could not really make much of an impression yet. From the moment Messi came on, he became the target, but received little help from his team-mates, who often seemed to hide behind their opponents. In the 65th minute, Carlos Antuna scored for Cruz Azul.

Five minutes before the end, Messi came face to face with the Cruz Azul goalkeeper, who cleverly stopped his shot. A few minutes later, the Argentinian gave another assist, but his teammate’s goal was disallowed for offside. In the 94th minute it was still hit: the goalkeeper of Cruz Azul had no chance with an unparalleled free kick from Messi that disappeared into the top left corner.

Messi, the seven-time Ballon d’Or, played his first official game for Inter Miami in the League Cups, this new tournament between clubs from the American league MLS and the Mexican league.

In the MLS, Inter Miami is currently at the bottom of the Easter Conference, which contains fifteen of the 29 clubs. There are still twelve league matches scheduled for Inter Miami, but reaching the play-offs seems almost impossible with seventeen points behind number seven Atlanta United.

There was talk of it last week Messi Mania in Miami, after his presentation at the American club. In recent weeks, the Argentinian superstar not only ensured that his shirts flew over the counter like hot cakes, but also that ticket prices for Inter Miami duels have risen enormously.

Before the game against Cruz Azul there was one huge scarcity of tickets. The few places that were still available have been listed for extortionate prices on the internet in recent days. On sales sites such as Ticketmaster and Viagogo, the last tickets did not sell for less than 250 euros. The most expensive ticket could be found on Vividseats with an absurd price of no less than 50,000 euros.

Lionel Messi was presented on Monday at Inter Miami, the last player in the Eastern Conference of the MLS. Chairman and owner David Beckham fired his good friend Phil Neville as coach last month, after which the experienced Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino (60) from Rosario was appointed as the new coach to work again with Messi. The seven-time winner of the Ballon d’Or previously played two seasons with the French top club Paris Saint-Germain and before that sixteen seasons for FC Barcelona, ​​where he scored 672 times in 778 games. Messi scored 715 goals and 339 assists in 885 games in Europe. Messi also scored 103 times in 175 international matches for Argentina, with which he won the Copa América in July 2021 and also won the world title at the end of last year as the crowning achievement of his impressive career.