FORT LAUDERDALE: 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 season on Saturday.
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. One of the off-season arrivals, forward Fafa Picault, had to go off in the 10th minute after going down with what appeared to be a muscle injury.
Then, 13 minutes later, the momentum of the game shifted significantly 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.
Makeshift defence
Miami with a makeshift, inexperienced central defensive pairing of Noah Allen and Ian Fray, struggled to get a grip on the game although substitute Robert Taylor forced City keeper Matt Freese into a fine save at the end of the half.
Lionel Messi scores for Miami in pre-season victory
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.
The former Spain and Barcelona left-back passed straight to New York forward Martinez who gleefully accepted the gift and burst goalwards before slotting past Oscar Ustari.
Messi was getting little in the way of quality service and next to no support from the largely ineffective Luis Suarez who was substituted four minutes after the goal.
Freese kept out a Messi free-kick and Alba found Federico Redondo with a fine pull-back but the midfielder side-footed wide.
But 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.
“He isn’t just playing in attack, he helps out in defence, running back, running in midfield, he’s magnificent.”
Elsewhere in MLS, Emmanuel Latte Lath scored twice for Atlanta United on his debut, helping the team to a 3-2 win over Montreal.
The Ivorian striker was signed by Atlanta from Middlesbrough in the off-season for a reported league record fee of $22 million.
Colombian Edwin Mosquera grabbed the winner for Atlanta with a superb, curling shot in the 85th minute.
Togo international Kevin Denkey, a $16 million signing from Belgium’s Cercle Brugge, scored on his debut for Cincinnati in their 1-0 win over the New York Red Bulls.
Uruguayan Diego Rossi scored twice for the Columbus Crew as they ruined Gregg Berhalter’s first game in charge of the Chicago Fire with a 4-2 win.
On Sunday champions Los Angeles Galaxy host the league’s newest club San Diego FC.
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