Lionel Messi’s late heroics help Inter Miami snatch a 3-3 tie from the Union

The Union were less than a minute away from their first win over Lionel Messi, but he ended up having the last word.

With a goal in the 87th minute and the assist on Telasco Segovia’s blast in the 95th, Messi led a late Inter Miami comeback to turn a 3-1 Union lead into a 3-3 tie at the final whistle.

Subaru Park was standing room only — with celebrities including the Eagles’ Cooper DeJean, the 76ers’ Justin Edwards and Adem Bona, and Union alumni Brenden and Paxten Aaronson — to see Messi’s second visit, and Luis Suárez’s first. They both started, along with fellow stars Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.

The Union (9-3-3, 30 points) seized command early and did not let up. Quinn Sullivan opened the scoring in the seventh minute, and Tai Baribo doubled the lead in the 44th.

Tadeo Allende scored for Miami (6-3-5, 23 points) in the 60th, and the raucous crowd turned nervous. Then Baribo struck again in the 73rd, his league-leading 13th goal of the season, to turn the tide back.

Even after Messi scored a trademark free kick in the 87th, they seemed to have done enough to hold on for the win. But Segovia‘s smash was the final word, leaving the Union once again short of what would have been an epic victory.

The best thing the Union could have done was score an early goal against Miami’s woeful defense. Sullivan delivered it in impressive fashion.

It came from the Union’s third corner kick of the opening minutes, a sign of how strongly their pressure started the night. Kai Wagner took it, and played it short instead of serving it into the 18-yard box.

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Sullivan stayed away from the crowd in the middle of the box, and had no one within 5 yards of him when he took the ball. That was plenty of time to turn, look up, and ping a perfect shot into the top corner at the far post.

The crowd erupted, Sullivan ran away to celebrate, and everyone saw why the 21-year-old is headed to his first senior U.S. men’s national team camp next month.

Miami eventually got back into the game, and Messi started to get on the ball more. But the Union’s defense held firm, and when Messi got a low shot off in the 33rd, Andrew Rick made a firm save.

The Union had a 9-3 advantage in shots and a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks when Baribo doubled the lead. But the goal still felt like a huge momentum swing, because any one-goal margin against Miami is dangerous.

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The play unfolded as one of many moments where Miami let the Union have possession of the ball for a while. It culminated with Jovan Lukić hitting a cross-field pass that Indiana Vassilev headed down toward the middle of the box. Baribo and Mikael Uhre both made hustle plays to box out Miami’s Tomas Avilés and Gonzalo Luján, and Uhre tipped the ball to Baribo.

One cut to the right created space for a shot, and Baribo slammed it into the net. The crowd erupted again, Miami’s players threw their hands up in exasperation, and the Union knew they landed a big blow.

Olwethu Makhanya had barely put a foot wrong in his first 60 minutes of work, including a great recovery run to shut down Allende in the 30th. But he got caught on Miami’s goal, as Allende ran between Makhanya and Wagner to head in Noah Allen’s cross.

The goal didn’t get Makhanya down. He made a pretty steal from Messi in the 63rd to launch a Union counterattack that fizzled out at the other end.

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After that play, Union manager Bradley Carnell made his first substitution of the night, withdrawing Uhre for Jesús Bueno to fortify the midfield.

Miami had made three substitutions by then, and Allende’s goal was the Herons’ first quality chance since a corner kick at the start of the half.

The Union needed some luck, too, and they got two doses of it in quick succession.

The first came in the 70th minute when Segovia was offside before heading in Jordi Alba’s cross. The second came in the 73rd when Baribo did a great job of staying just onside before Danley Jean Jacques’ deflected pass came to him on the doorstep.

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It should have been 4-1 in the 74th, but Vassilev botched a reception of a pass from Baribo on a three-on-one breakaway. That gave Miami’s defense enough time to recover to stop Vassilev and Jean Jacques from getting the ball in the net.

Vassilev was withdrawn right after that for Bruno Damiani. The move was planned before that play, but the timing reinforced the ugliness of the play.

There are a lot of things you shouldn’t do against Messi, and trip him just outside the 18-yard box is near the top of the list. Jakob Glesnes did exactly that in the 86th, and earned a yellow card for it.

After a long wait for play to resume, Messi sized up the free kick and slammed it high into the top corner. Rick dove for it but had no chance.

Lukić came inches from scoring in the 93rd, but he hit the wrong side of the crossbar. Had that gone in, Allende’s equalizer wouldn’t have ended up mattering.

Alas, it all did, and the Union were left to rue what could have been.