Inter Miami had an exciting opening match for the 2023 Leagues Cup round of 16 when they traveled to Dallas. Entering the match, the trio of Messi - Busquets - Jordi Alba were all named in the starting lineup. The efforts of the 3 former Barcelona players helped the Florida representative take an early lead.
Messi's superb free kick equalizes 4-4 against Dallas FC (Clip: Inter Miami)
However, the opponent had a resilient match when they came back and took a 2-goal lead twice in a row. In the final minutes, Messi scored a superb free kick and brought the match into a penalty shootout when the 90 minutes officially ended with a score of 4-4 according to the Leagues Cup competition rules.
Messi scored a double with a goal to equalize 4-4 in the final minutes of the second half.
In the penalty shootout, Messi opened the scoring and Busquets followed up with success in the first two rounds for Miami. On the contrary, the opponent failed early in the second round and let Inter Miami lead 2-1 and ended with a 5-3 victory after 5 rounds.
Tied 4-4 after 90 minutes, Inter Miami won 5-3 in the penalty shootout
In the 8-goal chase, Messi contributed greatly to the victory with a double for himself and a move that led to Inter Miami's third goal. In particular, the goal that brought Messi a double helped Inter Miami tie the score 4-4 in the 85th minute after a classy free kick right outside the penalty area.
In the first 45 minutes, Messi and his teammates almost conceded a goal in the 4th minute but luckily the opponent was offside. Almost conceding a goal, the Inter Miami players quickly responded just 2 minutes later. Although Messi's shot shook the opponent's net, the Argentine superstar and his teammates had to wait 2 minutes to celebrate the goal after the main referee consulted and checked VAR.
Messi scores the opening goal in the match for Inter Miami
In the following minutes, Inter Miami somewhat slowed down when the opponent equalized 1-1 in the 36th minute. It seemed that the first half would end with a score of 1-1, but Dallas took the lead for the first time to end the first half.
Dallas FC took the initiative in the middle of the match and created a 2-goal lead twice in a row.
In the 62nd minute, Dallas had a difficult free kick near the left touchline when the ball did not touch any of the players of the two teams and hit the ground into the Inter Miami net. With Velasco's difficult free kick, Dallas created a 2-goal gap with a score of 3-1 against Inter Miami.
But less than 3 minutes later, Inter Miami reduced the gap to 2-3 before the opponent brought the gap back to 2 goals. In the situation, striker Taylor dropped back to support the defense of the team from Florida. In Taylor's attempt to clear the ball then caused the ball to go straight into the home team's net in the 68th minute.
Messi scored a superb free kick to equalize the score 4-4 and bring the match into a penalty shootout.
Leading 4-2, the opponent did not have much pressure but Dallas player scored an own goal after a free kick from superstar Messi in the 80th minute to help Inter Miami shorten the score to 3-4. 5 minutes later, Messi completed his double and equalized 4-4 in the final minutes.
With this victory, Inter Miami is the first team to enter the quarterfinals of the Leagues Cup 2023. Messi and his teammates' opponents will be determined after the match between Houston Dynamo FC and Charlotte FC tomorrow.
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