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Miami: Lionel Messi starred on debut as his stoppage time goal helped Inter Miami beat Cruz Azul 2-1 in the Leagues Cup on Saturday. The Argentine World Cup winner entered the pitch on 54 minutes as a substitute with his side leading 1-0.
Robert Taylor had given Inter Miami the lead, when he took a long cross from Robbie Robinson and moved into the box before sending a low drive inside the far post into the back of the net. Messi celebrated as he leaped out of his seat and broke into a wide smile.
Uriel Antuna scored the equaliser for Cruz Azul in the 65th minute. However, as the game looked to end in a draw, Messi was brought down in the injury time roughly 20 yards out. The former Barcelona star wasted no time in curling the winner into the top corner.
El primer gol de Messi con Inter Miami 🤯🤯👏👏
Messi scores in his first match with the club to give us the lead in the 94th minute. pic.twitter.com/pI7bYjEK63
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) July 22, 2023
“What I saw was the goal,” Messi said in an on-field interview amid the postgame celebration. “I saw the goal. I knew that I had to score.” Messi was a showman throughout his debut for his Major League Soccer club. He waved at fans while he was seated on the bench.
Waved at them while he was warming up. Waved at them while he was actually in the game. The team’s owners — David Beckham, Jorge Mas and Jose Mas — were waiting as he left the pitch; Jorge Mas planted a kiss onto the superstar’s sweat-coated cheek.
It took Inter Miami four years of planning and two years of actual pursuing to bring Messi to the club. “Worth it,” Beckham said earlier in the week. How right he was. “It’s such a moment for this country,” Beckham said. “It’s such a moment for the league. And it’s a very proud moment for us.”
Messi signed a 2 1/2-year contract that will pay him between $50 million and $60 million annually — and almost certainly more than $1 million per match. Messi arrived with the team about two hours before game time, dressed in the team colors — pink T-shirt, black shorts.
He stopped for a few photos and handshakes as he entered the tunnel leading to the locker room. As the match started, Messi took his seat and watched his new team, in the all-pink jersey, shorts and socks, start his new era.
Almost every seat was filled, many by people wearing newly acquired Miami jerseys with Messi’s name on the back. They chanted his name a few times, waved flags bearing his name and number.
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