Lionel Messi faces a reunion with his former club, Paris Saint-Germain, after his Inter Miami side reached the last 16 of the Club World Cup with a 2-2 draw with Palmeiras.
The Brazilian side fought back from two goals down to draw at Hard Rock Stadium, a result which secured both teams a place in the knock-out stages.
Goals from Tadeo Allende and Luis Suarez had Miami on course for a second surprise victory in the tournament after their win over Porto.
But the Brazilian side struck twice in the last 10 minutes through Paulinho and Mauricio to make sure of their place in the next round.
Few expected Miami to make it out of the group but they now face the European champions while Palmeiras will have an all-Brazilian encounter with Botafogo.
For Messi, who celebrates his 38th birthday on Tuesday, the tie in Atlanta will see him face his former club PSG for the first time since leaving them to join Miami in 2023.
“It’s a historic night for the MLS because we are into the best 16 teams in the world and all the MLS have to be proud of Inter Miami,” said Miami coach Javier Mascherano.
The result meant that Egyptian club Al Ahly and Porto were both eliminated despite producing a highly entertaining 4-4 draw at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
There were six Argentines in the Miami starting line-up which took the field in front of a large Brazilian contingent in the 60,914 crowd.
The travelling fans were on their feet in the opening minutes when Gustavo Gomez powered a header goalwards from a corner but Oscar Ustari was down well to save.
Miami grabbed the lead in the 16th minute when Suarez brilliantly chested a long ball into the path of the on-rushing Allende who showed pace to break clear of the Brazilian defence and then composure to fire past Weverton.
– ‘Great game’ –
Palmeiras’s tactics of sitting off Miami were not working with Messi dropping deep and linking up with Sergio Busquets and Federico Redondo as the Major League Soccer side enjoyed plenty of possession.
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The only chance for Palmeiras before the break came when Facundo Torres found himself in a promising position after some sloppy Miami defending but he screwed his shot wide.
Messi’s first real effort on goal came four minutes after the restart when he eked out just enough room on the edge of the box for a low shot but Weverton was down well.
Allende threatened again when he broke down the right and flashed a shot just wide of the post and Messi drove a bouncing ball narrowly over the bar as Miami pushed for a second goal.
That came in the 65th minute with the 38-year-old former Barcelona striker Suarez rolling back the years as he dribbled past two defenders and then blasted into the top corner.
Top spot in the group mattered to Miami as it would have avoided the clash with PSG but it was not to be as Palmeiras earned themselves a crucial point with their late revival.
Substitute Paulinho fired home in the 80th minute after a lovely reverse pass from Allan Andrade.
Then, with three minutes left on the clock, Maxi Falcon’s header fell straight to Mauricio who pounced on the opportunity, rifling into the far corner to make it 2-2.
“It was a great game from us, it’s difficult to play against one of the best teams in South America,” said Mascherano.
“Maybe at the end we had the game in our hands so the feeling is strange but before the start of the tournament if someone told me we were going to have this kind of performance against these kind of teams I would have signed for it.”
Abel Ferreira, the Palmeiras head coach, was highly critical of his team’s opening 45 minutes but pleased with their reaction.
“I told them at half-time that it was impossible to do worse than what we did in the first half. We were unable to contain our opponents or put pressure on them up front. But our spirit of fighting until the end was particularly important in the second half, and we were rewarded for that,” he said.
AFP
