Argentine Lionel Messiwith his fourth goal in four games, and the Uruguayan Luis Suarezwith the tying header in the 95th minute, They came back from 0-2 this Thursday and gave Inter Miami a 2-2 draw on their visit to Nashville in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Concacaf Champions League.
Inter Miami had a bad time at GEODIS Park in Nashvillewhere Jacob Shaffelburg gave a double advantage to the locals, but in the second half the two leaders of the locker room appeared so that the team of Argentine coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino return to Chase Stadium with the tie in balance and two away goals under their belt.
Suárez, who scored two goals against Orlando last weekend in the MLS, appeared in the 95th with a header goal for the tieminutes after an offside call by Shaquell Moore denied Nashville a 3-1 lead.
Inter Miami, which had also avoided defeat in its other away game played this year, against the Los Angeles Galaxy, The second leg will be played next Wednesday at home. The winner of this tie will face one between Monterrey and Cincinnati.
Without the Spanish Jordi Alba, out due to a severe flu condition, Inter Miami started in the worst way, by conceding a goal on Shaffelburg’s counterattack after just four minutesand suffered against the push of Nashville, one of the most competitive teams in the United States at home.
In Federico Redondo’s debut in midfield, Inter Miami made several errors in the ball release phase that made them take risks in defense and they stopped him in the offensive dynamics, in which Messi, despite playing at a low pace, was the only one to turn on the light.
The Argentine had two great scoring opportunities in the first half, with a left-footed shot was inches wide and a shot inside the area repelled by Walker Zimmerman, but it was Nashville to strike again.
He did it at the beginning of the second half, after three minutes, and again with Shaffelburg as the protagonist. The winger beat Callender with a wonderful left foot shot from outside the area that ended up in the back of the net.
It was when the team was against the wall that the reaction came. Led by Messi, who scored his first goal in this competition with a curved left-footed shot which surprised the goalkeeper to raise the score to 1-2.
That goal made Nashville lose confidence, which suddenly had more problems with the ball, less ease, and was scared in the 58th minute when the lineman correctly ruled out the possible equalizer scored by Paraguayan Diego Gómez for offside.
Messi was scared by a hard and dangerous foul from MacNaughton that the referee didn’t even whistle and Nashville tasted 3-1 in the 83rd minute, when Moore scored a goal later disallowed for a slight, but correct, offside.
In those centimeters the history of the game changed. In the 95th minute, Suárez took advantage of his only opportunity of the night to head in a cross from the right wing and sent Inter to Miami with a 2-2 score that tastes like victory for Martino’s men..
Keep reading:
· The meeting between Lionel Messi and Will Smith in Inter Miami’s victory
· Gerardo Martino remembers the Mexican team during his time with Inter Miami
· Lionel Messi and his musical preferences before playing each match
· Ricardo Ferretti remembers his fall against Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami