Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez score first goals of the year, in defeat of Inter Miami

Inter Miami They lost this Monday 4-3 against the Saudi Al-Hilal in a friendly in which Luis Suárez scored his first goal with the American team and Lionel Messi opened his account this preseason with a penalty.

Gerardo Martino's squad overcame the 1-3 deficit they suffered at half-time at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh but Brazilian Malcom made it 4-3 in the 88th minute, just seconds after Messi was replaced.

With this defeat against Neymar's team, which was lost due to its serious injury, Inter Miami remains without victory in its first three preparation tests for the MLS season, which starts on February 21.

Inter scored through Suárez in the 34th minute, Messi from a penalty in the 54th minute and the young Honduran international David Ruiz in the 55th minute. Al-Hilal's goals were the work of Serbian Aleksandar Mitrovic in the 10th minute, Saudi Abdullah Al-Hamdan (13') and the Brazilians Michael (44') and Malcom (88'), who was Messi's teammate at Barcelona.

Inter, who had previously drawn against the El Salvador team (0-0) and lost against FC Dallas (1-0), will have the second stop of their Asian tour on Thursday against also Saudi Al-Nassr, in a expected reunion of Messi with the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Kingdom Arena stadium in Riyadh was dressed up on Monday to receive the Argentine captain, who acts as a tourist ambassador for the Saudi kingdom and was the object of desire of the wealthy local league when he left Paris Saint-Germain last year and looked for a new destiny away from European football.

Finally Messi did not follow the path of many stars who accepted the stratospheric Saudi offers, among them Neymar, who missed the duel against the Argentine and Suárez, his partners in Barcelona's fearsome 'MSN' forward line.

Even without Neymar and many other casualties due to the current Asian and African Cups, the Al-Hilal figures did not take long to give the first blow to Inter's weak defense. The Brazilian full-back Renan Lodi, the latest major acquisition of the Saudi Pro League leader, launched a devastating triangulation with the Serbians Milinkovic-Savic and Mitrovic, which he defined with a powerful cross shot.

With only 13 minutes of play, the locals were already winning 2-0 after Al-Hamdan took advantage of a poor rebound in the area by defender Noah Allen to hit a tight left-footed shot against the post. Imprecise until then, Messi tried to activate the arrivals from the left wing of Suárez and Jordi Alba. Inter scored after half an hour in an action that started with a long ball from Alba to the German Julian Gresselanother of Inter's signings of the year, who ended up reaching Suárez to score into an empty net.

The Brazilian referee Edina Alves Batista initially disallowed the goal for offside but, after reviewing the VAR, ruled that it was defender Mohammed Jahfali who touched the ball before it reached Suárez. 'El Pistolero' thus ended Inter's scoring drought in the preseason and celebrated his first goal since moving to Miami from the Brazilian Gremio.

Four minutes later Messi took advantage of a mistake by two Saudi defenders in the area to score the equalizer but the goal was disallowed for offside in a previous pass from the Argentine to Suárez. Al-Hilal extended their advantage with a header from the small Michael, who anticipated a poor start from Callender, but after the break Inter came back with two goals in a matter of seconds.

Messi inaugurated his locker of the year by sending to the squad a penalty committed on David Ruiz, also indicated at the request of the VAR. And Ruiz himself, 19 years old, then equalized with a fabulous goal in which he cut off two defenders and hit a shot at the near post.

'Tata' replaced Suárez in the 75th minute but Messi stayed on the pitch for another 13 minutes in search of Inter's first win of the year. From the bench, the Argentine watched seconds later as Al-Hilal scored the winning goal in a devastating counterattack defined by Malcom with a diving header that escaped Callender's hands.

AFP

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