Messi played 65 minutes in his debut match in early 2025 with Inter Miami under the guidance of new coach Javier Mascherano. The 37-year-old Argentine player scored to equalize the score 1-1 in the 34th minute, marking the 21st year in his career of consecutive goals.
Messi played 65 minutes in his debut match in 2025 and quickly opened his goal account
However, in general, Inter Miami had an unsatisfactory opening match against Club America, struggling to come back until the last minute to equalize the score 2-2. The score was tied, due to the regulations of the match organizers, the two teams held a penalty shootout to determine the winner or loser. In the end, Inter Miami won 3-2 after a series of 11 m kicks.
Previously, the Mexican team was considered stronger with 3 recent consecutive Liga MX championships, quickly gaining an advantage and scoring the opening goal in the 31st minute by player Henry Martin, after a mistake in defense. Inter Miami. 3 minutes later, the trio of Messi, Suarez and Jordi Alba coordinated extremely well, so in the end Messi was created by Suarez with a beautiful opportunity to head close to the goal to equalize the score 1-1 for Inter Miami.
Messi, Suarez and Jordi Alba are also the brightest spots in Inter Miami’s playing style in the new era of coach Javier Mascherano, changing the style of play, being more direct and creating the ball more from the back line.
Inter Miami no longer uses a rushing attack and possesses a lot of the ball like the 2024 season. Instead, they enter the game slowly and firmly from the backline, before deploying more effective attacks.
However, because this is only the first official match, this gameplay is still not very smooth. Besides, Inter Miami’s force is in a period of many changes. Rookies like newly arrived goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo took to the field. In addition, striker Fafa Picault is still not compatible with Messi and Suarez in attack.
Therefore, Jordi Alba is the one who often rises high to support Messi and Suarez. This trio, who has played for many years at FC Barcelona, gets along extremely well. They are the ones who often cause difficulties for Club America’s defense.
Messi took many free kicks for Inter Miami
Meanwhile, one of Inter Miami’s biggest weaknesses is that the defense has not yet been strengthened. Defensive midfielder Federico Redondo is inexperienced, so he cannot provide the best support for center backs Tomas Aviles and Noah Allen (both only 20 years old). Thereby, causing veteran Sergio Busquets to often retreat to cover.
The instability in the defense and the lack of understanding between goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo and the lack of understanding caused Inter Miami to concede a goal in the 52nd minute as Israel Reyes scored to increase the score 2-1 for Club America. It wasn’t until the final minutes of the match that Inter Miami’s efforts were rewarded with a 2-2 equalizer scored by Tomas Aviles after a close-range header.
This is considered a quite positive result for coach Javier Mascherano in his debut to lead Inter Miami. In addition, the quartet of Messi, Suarez, Jordi Alba and Busquets, despite being old, still shows good class and physical condition, helping this team entering the 2025 season have a lot of promise.
