{"id":219494,"date":"2026-04-05T11:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T11:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/219494\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T11:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T11:09:13","slug":"lionel-messi-luis-suarez-rally-inter-miami-to-2-2-draw-vs-austin-fc-in-new-stadium-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/219494\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi, Luis Su\u00e1rez rally Inter Miami to 2-2 draw vs Austin FC in new stadium debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lionel Messi<\/a> delivered on a milestone night in Miami<\/a>, and Luis Su\u00e1rez came through late to help Inter Miami CF<\/a> salvage a point.<\/p>\n

Messi scored on a header in the 10th minute, and Su\u00e1rez hammered home a volley in the 82nd as Inter Miami rallied for a 2-2 draw against Austin FC on Saturday night. The match marked the club’s long-awaited debut at its still-under-construction stadium near Miami International Airport.<\/p>\n

Inter Miami (3-1-2) extended its unbeaten streak to five MLS matches, while Austin (1-2-3) stretched its winless run to four.<\/p>\n

Messi, Su\u00e1rez deliver in stadium debut<\/p>\n

Austin struck first, taking a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute on a goal from Guilherme Biro \u2014 the first ever scored at the new stadium. Messi responded just four minutes later, heading home the equalizer to ignite the home crowd.<\/p>\n

The visitors regained control early in the second half when Jayden Nelson, a halftime substitute, made it 2-1 in the 53rd minute after breaking behind the defense and finishing past goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair.<\/p>\n

But Inter Miami answered again late. Su\u00e1rez found space in the box and drilled a volley in the 82nd minute to level the match at 2-2.<\/p>\n

The Herons pushed for a winner in the closing minutes. Mateo Silvetti had a prime chance in the 87th minute but sent his attempt over the bar. Su\u00e1rez thought he had a stoppage-time winner off a Messi free kick, but the goal was ruled offside. Moments later, Messi forced a diving save from Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver to keep the match level.<\/p>\n

Inter Miami stays unbeaten as MLS spotlight grows<\/p>\n

MLS Commissioner Don Garber attended the match and praised the moment as a sign of the league’s continued growth, crediting David Beckham for helping bring the club to this stage.<\/p>\n

“I think our best days are still ahead,” Garber said. “David shined a light on our league, and Leo’s taking that torch and showing it around. We’re getting calls from players around the world.”<\/p>\n

Inter Miami, now in its seventh MLS season and third with Messi, had previously played its home matches in Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n

Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver said his team embraced the challenge of facing the defending MLS champions on such a significant night.<\/p>\n

“We got to be the villains,” Stuver said.<\/p>\n

Austin will host the LA Galaxy on April 11, while Inter Miami returns home to face the New York Red Bulls the same day.<\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi delivered on a milestone night in Miami, and Luis Su\u00e1rez came through late to help Inter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[15257,1660,8003,123,125,124,2062,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-219494","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-david-beckham","9":"tag-lionel-messi","10":"tag-major-league-soccer","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-headlines","13":"tag-miami-news","14":"tag-soccer","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}