On his debut, Lionel Messi scored a 94th minute 25-yard free-kick to hand Inter Miami a 2-1 win over Cruz Azul in the Leagues Cup.
Messi stepped up to take the injury time free-kick with the scoreline at 1-1. He directed his kick into the top corner much to the excitement of jubilant fans.
The match witnessed the presence of Serena Williams and Lebron James – arguably the greatest Tennis and basketball players respectively.
Much of the pre-match talk undoubtedly centred around Messi’s debut for his new club Inter Miami. The Major League Soccer (MLS) club had only unveiled him days ago and everyone anticipated his debut.
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The stadium was filled up with fans donned with Inter Miami jerseys with Messi printed on the back. Others wore Argentina jerseys, showing their love, support and warm welcome for the World Cup winner.
While on the bench, Messi waved at the fans and when he was up to warm up a few times, he did the same, with the fans acknowledging the football legend with a boisterous shout.
Fans were so excited to see Messi warmup during halftime and was brought on eight minutes into the second period. He indeed saved the best for the last. His free-kick was an absolutely fantastic masterpiece that gave an electric atmosphere all around the DRV PNK Stadium.
He raced to the right corner of the field, jumping into the arms of teammates with joy written over him.
The estimated 21,000 fans in the stadium were all on their feet when Messi came on for midfielder Benjamin Cremaschi.
It took Inter Miami a four-year plan to land Messi who made his debut for the club moments ago.
“Worth it,” co-owner David Beckham said earlier in the week.
The Leagues Cup is a tournament between clubs from MLS and Liga MX, the top Mexican league. Cruz Azul won the inaugural edition in 2019.
Inter Miami has the fewest points in the MLS standings – that is, they are bottom of the table. Meanwhile, Cruz Azul is the only Liga MX team yet to record a standings point after three matches this season.
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