WHAT HAPPENED?
The Argentine GOAT delivered another match-winning moment of magic for the Herons as they took on Porto in Atlanta. Javier Mascherano’s side trailed that game at half-time, but restored parity less than two minutes into the second half.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
The stage was set for Messi to become the hero, and he duly delivered when curling a stunning free-kick into the top corner in the 54th minute. His effort left Porto goalkeeper Claudio Ramos clutching at fresh air, with Inter Miami going on to prevail 2-1.
GettyWHAT MESSI SAID
Messi told FIFA afterwards: "Well, I saw that the goalkeeper was stood in the middle of the goal and he was close to the goal, so it would be very difficult to get it over him. I took advantage of the space that he left there, because he stayed a bit more central. He didn’t cover his post so much, so I tried to put it there."
Next Match
DID YOU KNOW?
Messi was also asked about what Inter Miami are proving to a global audience at the Club World Cup. The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner said: "I think they’re seeing that we’re here to compete, and today we competed against a strong European team.
"We made some silly mistakes in the first half the other day [against Al Ahly]. The younger players were a bit nervous because it was the first time they’d played in such a big, significant tournament. And I think we played well today.
"We were slow out of the blocks but we changed that in the second half. We’ll compete, we’ll try to play our game. We know that today we were the weaker team but we can hurt them. Next up we have Palmeiras, a great team and that’ll be another really tough match."
GettyWHAT NEXT FOR INTER MIAMI?
Inter Miami will be back in action on Monday, as they return to Florida to face Palmeiras at Hard Rock Stadium, with Messi set to celebrate his 38th birthday the day after that contest - with the plan being to have booked a place in the Club World Cup last 16 by then.