New Jersey [US], August 27 : Lionel Andres Messi once again worked his magic in his Major League Soccer (MLS) debut to seal off an impressive 2-0 victory against NY Red Bulls at the Red Bull Arena on Sunday.
Miami manager Gerardo Martino named the playing XI with Messi being the most notable absentee. However, he came on as a substitute in the second half to keep his goal-scoring streak alive and seal another victory for Inter Miami.
Even without the World Cup-winning Argentinian, Miami fared well in the first half. Jordi Alba carried the attacking threat on the left side, cutting back passes every now and then.
The first opportunity to break the stalemate fell in Miami's account, with Alba making a run down the left flank, making a cutback pass to find Diego Gomez who sent the ball wide off the goal post.
Miami continued to play out from the back, while Red Bulls players tried to hunt them and regain possession occasionally in pair of two.
Bulls finally got their much-awaited moment in the 35th minute of the game, when a cutback pass fell in the path of Omir Fernandes, who ended up missing a sitter from a close range.
A minute later, Gomez punished them a minute later by scoring his first goal with a left-footed finish from inside the box.
Leonardo Campana tried to double their advantage with a moment of individual brilliance. He controlled the ball with his chest, looped the ball over the defender's head with his second touch, and went for a scorpion kick which was directed straight at the keeper.
A moment of scare took away the breath of Miami fans as following a shot the ball struck the defender on the upper arm and the referee decided to award a penalty.
VAR intervened in the matter and asked the referee to look at the incident again and after reviewing the matter he overturned his decision.
The scoreboard at halftime read in Maim's favour with 1-0.
A few minutes into the second half Omir Fernandes had the opportunity to redeem himself following a corner, but his header was met equally by Drake Callender.
Bulls continued to knock on Miami's door, with Tom Barlow coming closest to clinch the equalizer.
The American with a sublime touch brought the ball under his control and struck a shot which was once again stopped by Callender.
Martino tried to shift the momentum by bringing Messi on th field in the 60th minute of the game.
Messi made his mark in the dying minutes of the match, as he found Benjamin Cremaschi with a thread in the needle pass. Cremaschi returned the favour by giving it back to the Argentinian who had the entire goal at his mercy to keep his scoring streak alive.
The game ended with a 2-0 scoreline.
Inter Miami will now face Nashville on Thursday at the DRV PNK Stadium.
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