As he has done so frequently in little over eight months at the club, Lionel Messi came to Inter Miami’s rescue once again with a last-gasp equalizer in their 1-1 draw at LA Galaxy on Sunday night.
Messi had to pull Miami out of trouble right at the death in California, where they looked poised to slump to a first defeat of the new MLS season heading into stoppage time.
Dejan Joveljic opened the scoring for the hosts with 15 minutes to play, latching onto Marco Delgado’s ball across goal and converting past goalkeeper Drake Callender from close range to break the deadlock.
Yet when Delgado saw red 13 minutes later, Miami were offered a late lifeline heading into seven minutes of stoppage time.
Messi 🔗 Alba
WHAT A GOAL!
LA Galaxy 1 – 1 #InterMiamiCFpic.twitter.com/gXttB8XJ1K
— MEBUD 🇳🇬 (@EgwudikeCAF) February 26, 2024
Just two minutes into that closing period Messi made Galaxy pay; poking a Jordi Alba cross into the roof of the net to save the day for Miami.
After failing to get on the scoresheet in Wednesday’s opening win over Real Salt Lake City, Inter’s superstar was on hand with his first goal of the campaign at the most crucial of moments to ensure Tata Martino’s men remain unbeaten two games into the season.
Earlier in the evening Callender had looked like proving the hero for Inter after making a string of terrific saves, including when he got down brilliantly to deny Galaxy’s Riqui Puig from the penalty spot.
Miami had to ride their luck at times in a sluggish opening 45 minutes, with Callender also tipping a fierce effort by Puig onto the crossbar as the home team ramped up the pressure.
Just over 20 minutes into the second half Galaxy’s Miki Yamane sent a shot crashing off the post, before Miami’s Diego Gomez’s close-range right-footer was stopped by John McCarthy.
In the end Galaxy’s waves of pressure finally paid off when Joveljic swept the ball home for the opening goal, which looked like proving the match-winner in the closing stages.
Callender got down to make yet another save but the rebound went right to the unguarded Delgado, who shifted the ball over for a wide-open Joveljic to stroke home.
However, Delgado’s second yellow card shortly after for a late challenge on Sergio Busquets shifted momentum back towards Miami and Messi, who needed no second invitation when Alba picked him out unmarked in the box.
Following some neat interplay between the former Barcelona teammates, Messi slid in with his left foot and steered the ball home to cancel out Joveljic’s opener with minutes remaining.
Former Galaxy player and Miami co-owner David Beckham appeared to not celebrate their last-gasp goal in California, having spent five years on LA’s books towards the back end of his iconic career, according to Daily Mail.
Next up for Beckham and Miami is the visit of Orlando City next Saturday.
