AFP – Lionel Messi and Inter Miami stumbled out of the blocks with a 2-2 home draw against New York City FC in the opening round of the new Major League Soccer (MLS) season yesterday.
Miami, who broke the regular season points record last year before crashing out in the first round of the playoffs, played the bulk of the match with 10 men after Argentine defender Tomas Aviles was sent off.
Messi provided the assists for both Miami’s goals including the leveler which came in the 10th minute of stoppage time.
With new head coach Javier Mascherano in charge for the first time in MLS, having replaced fellow Argentine Gerardo Martino, Miami featured several new faces but looked disjointed for most of the encounter.
The night began perfectly for Miami who took the lead in the fifth minute, Messi slipping a pass to Aviles who slotted home. But then things started to go wrong for the MLS Cup favourites.
The momentum of the game shifted towards New York when Aviles brought down Alonso Martinez on the edge of the box to earn a straight red card.
From the free-kick Maxi Moralez took advantage of the disorganisation in the Miami defence – feeding the unmarked Slovenian Mitja Ilenic who fired into the bottom corner. New York could sense there was the chance for an upset but they could barely believe their luck when they were gifted the lead by Alba in the 55th minute.
In the 10th minute of stoppage time Messi provided the touch of class Miami needed – slipping a perfectly weighted pass through to Telasco Segovia and the Venezuelan provided a deft finish to lift the ball over Freese for the equaliser.
“He’s the soul of this team,” Mascherano said of Messi. “You could see with what he did at the end”.
“We need to keep him with this spirit because it is not just what he does on that pitch it is what he transmits to his team-mates,” added the Miami coach.
