Messi and Suarez Combine to Score Historic CONCACAF 2024 Goal: Recalling Barcelona Glory
Inter Miami held Nashville to a 2-2 draw as Lionel Messi scored his first-ever CONCACAF goal in combination with Luis Suarez.
In the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions League Round of 16 match against Nashville FC, Inter Miami had to rely on the brilliance of their Barcelona trio as they battled back to earn a 2-2 draw. Thanks to a magnificent brace from Jacob Shaffelburg (4′, 46′), the visitors were behind 0-2 at the time.
However, Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez, and Lionel Messi had other ideas! The legendary player from Uruguay tied the score in the last seconds to ensure Miami advanced to the next round.
Suarez located Messi, his former Barcelona teammate, outside the Nashville box in the 52nd minute. The victor of the 2022 World Cup squeezed the ball between the opponent’s goalkeeper’s outstretched right fingers and inside the left post with his amazing left foot. It turned out to be his very first CONCACAF goal as well.
Then, thanks to a wonderful cross from Busquets, Suarez headed in the equalizer for a perfect finish in the fifth minute of injury time.
In contrast to their performance in the second half, Nashville was dominant in the first half of the game. In the fourth minute, Shaffelburg made it 1-0 by scoring past Drake Callender after the ball struck the crossbar and entered the goal. Soon after the break, he scored a thunderous goal from outside the box. In the 83rd minute, Shaq Moore appeared to have put Nashville up 3-1, but the play was flagged offside.
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Following the game, Nashville coach Gary Smith gave particular recognition to Messi, Busquets, and Suarez. The intellectual level is entirely different from that of players like Lionel Messi, Busquets, and Suarez. whole distinct level. And I felt the boys did a great job overall,” he remarked.
“It leaves us in a good position for the second 90 minutes, which are going to be as tough as today and the other games we have played with Nashville,” stated Miami head coach Tata Martino in the meantime.
“We endangered the game at the beginning of the first and second halves… Our opponent was more intense than we were before we entered the game. Each half has ten or fifteen minutes that may have lost us the game. We had excellent ball possession and ball circulation for an hour, and we had opportunities to score, but we might potentially be behind 3-0 seven or eight minutes into the second half,” he continued.
