Messi Leads Fightback, Herons Advance

FC Dallas 4-4 Inter Miami CF (Inter Miami advance 5-3 on penalties)

FRISCO, TX–He may have played only four matches so far for Inter Miami, but Lionel Messi is quickly entering South Florida sports lore if not already. Another brace, plus there his first come-from-behind win, as Inter Miami defeated FC Dallas on penalties, 5-3, after a 4-4 draw after 90 minutes.

Messi opened the scoring in the sixth minute (after VAR overruled the decision that Josef Martinez was offside on the shot), to give Inter the advantage. However, FC Dallas would not go away quietly and went into halftime with the lead after goals by Facundo Quignon and Bernard Kamungo in an eight minute span.

Alan Velasco added a third in the 63rd minute off a set piece. Messi and Jordi Alba then set up Ben Cremaschi two minutes later to make it 3-2. Four minutes later that, Robert Taylor, who has benefitted greatly since Messi’s arrival, accidentally knocked a Paul Arriola cross into his own net.

FC Dallas would return the favor in the 80th minute as Marco Farfan accidentally headed in a Messi free kick. Five minutes from time, Messi had another free kick and beat Maarten Paes near post.

It would go to penalties and Paxton Pomykal would be the only one to miss his spot kick while Inter Miami would go five-for-five with Messi scoring first and Cremaschi scoring the clincher.

Inter Miami now await the winner of the Charlotte FC-Houston Dynamo match on Friday. The aforementioned Crown and Dynamo play Monday night at 8:30pm CT on Apple TV.

Ziro Castellanos has the photos from the evening. You can view a sample below and more by clicking on the link.