In Thursday’s preseason friendly against Al-Nassr, Inter Miami lost badly 6-0 after giving up three goals in the first 12 minutes, one of which came from inside the opposing half.
The MLS team quickly fell behind 3-0 to the Saudi team, who did not have Cristiano Ronaldo on the field. Lionel Messi had to watch the game because he thought he might be hurt. After being ruled out of the match in Riyadh, the famous player from Portugal sat in the stands.
Al-Nassr’s third goal, scored by former Manchester City star Aymeric Laporte, was the worst part of the embarrassing start to the game.
He took a free kick from deep inside his half, and it went over Miami’s goalie Drake Callender as he ran back to defend. That made the score 3-0.
The home team took the lead three minutes in when Portuguese forward Otavio scored, and soon after, Brazilian Talisca made it two goals to one.
Even though Messi wasn’t playing, Miami still had Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez, and Jordi Alba in their starting eleven.
Tata Martino’s team seemed to have stopped the early damage—the score was still 3-0 at halftime—but Al-Nassr scored three more goals after the break.
In the sixth minute of the second half, Talisca scored the fourth goal. Then, after Suarez and Alba were taken off, Al-Nassr finished off the win. First Mohammed Maran made it five, and then Talisca scored his third goal with 17 minutes left.
The Brazilian then made things worse for Miami by celebrating like Ronaldo always does.
Messi stayed on the bench for the last six minutes of the game. He was said to have felt “discomfort” after playing Al-Hilal and had to get a scan.
Miami has already played four games on their tough training tour, which will take them 23,000 miles away. Before the new MLS season starts, Messi and his team still have games in Hong Kong and Japan. Sometime during the rest of the tour, the World Cup winner is likely to play.
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