Lionel Messi did his thing in Saudi Arabia
, but even his Inter Miami fails to rebound in this
extra large
preseason .
Beyond Leo's first goal of the year and an assist from him, Tata Martino's team fell 4-3 against
Al Hilal
at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, who received the number 10 with bows.
The tour continues this Thursday against
Cristiano Ronaldo
's
Al Nassr
, who is in doubt due to a muscle injury.
The beginning was quite a suffering.
The difference between a team in full competition and another in full preparation was noticeable.
Al Hilal beat Inter Miami and went into the break with a completely justified 3-1 win
.
Gerardo Martino put all his efforts: Messi, Suárez, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets... But the team led by the Portuguese
Jorge Jesús
was too much and overwhelmed him.
The visitors' back five could not stop a single play in that calamitous first half.
The players of the Arab team passed everywhere and entered the other's area through the middle, from the sides, from above and below.
It took ten minutes to score the first, which came with a definition from Serbian
Aleksandar Mitrovic
.
Two minutes later, due to a defensive inattention, Abdullah Al-Hamdan scored the second.
Messi and his gestures of annoyance were the summary of a disastrous night for him and his team, who managed to get excited about a comeback when the ball was handled by the Argentine number 10 and tried to look for his friend Suárez or some climb by Jordi Alba on the left .
Photo: Victor Fraile Rodriguez-USA TODAY Sports
Suárez gave his first shout dressed in pink
, but had to wait because the referee,
Edina Alves
(Brazilian), annulled it for a non-existent advanced position, since the pass to the Uruguayan had been due to a touch by Mohammed Jahfali, a man from Al Hilal .
Messi and Suárez protested and the VAR validated the discount
.
By the way, Alves became the first woman to be the head judge in a Messi match.
The Rosario took advantage of a mistake by his rivals and scored the tie in what seemed like the magical recovery of the Florida team.
However, that goal was well canceled by an offside by Suárez at the beginning of the play.
And from being close to equaling it, Inter Miami went on to lose by two goals.
Another example of the weak defense, this time also harmed by a very poor start from goalkeeper
Drake Callender
, ended in the home owner's third: Brazilian Michael, the shortest player on the field (166 centimeters tall), did it with a header. ).
But, as if halftime had served as a brainwash for those from Miami, Messi and company changed their faces in the second half and came out determined to turn history around.
And for a moment they succeeded, at least while the best in the world was on the field.
Leo got active and took his teammates to start the day.
First, from a penalty, after a foul committed on David Ruiz.
La Pulga executed his shot in a precise, high way, impossible for the rival goalkeeper.
That was 8 minutes into the second half.
Messi scored his first goal of 2024 from a penalty. Photo: Reuters
So, among the three friendlies he has played this preseason,
Lionel Messi needed 161 minutes on the pitch to score his first goal of 2024
(he had played 45 minutes in the 0-0 draw against El Salvador and 63 against FC Dallas, both without annotate).
Al Hilal took it out of the middle, lost it and with a first-class touch from Messi, Ruiz scored his great goal:
3-3 and now Inter was emboldened to win it because in a few minutes they were back in the game
.
The procedure was balanced and could be for anyone.
Martino made some changes, but left Leo.
It seemed that the Argentine would complete the 90 minutes, but he left with 3 left, with a talk with the Argentine coach along the way, which hopefully was not due to some discomfort.
And what a fate, in the play following the captain's departure,
the Arabs won it with Malcom's header that could not be contained by Callender
.
Now, he waits for Cristiano's Al Nassr to see if he can win.