Opposition Players Line Up to Meet Lionel Messi After Inter Miami's Dismal Pre-Season Ends With a 1-1 Draw vs. Newell's

Inter Miami completed a disappointing pre-season campaign on the pitch by drawing 1-1 with Newell's Old Boys in Florida on Thursday night.

Haiti international Shanyder Borgelin headed Miami in front in the 64th minute but Franco Diaz later equalized for the team from Argentina.

Messi, playing against his boyhood club, started the game and stayed on the field until the hour mark.

The 36-year-old came close to scoring on two occasions.

He hit a low shot just wide in the 31st minute after a dazzling dribble.

Moments later he missed the target by a matter of inches from a long-range free-kick.

Highlights: Inter Miami 1-1 Newell's Old Boys

This was Miami's seventh fixture of a hectic pre-season.

The Herons failed to score in four of those games and won just one - a 4-1 victory over a Hong Kong Premier League XI without Messi.

Meanwhile, Miami lost 1-0 to FC Dallas, 4-3 to Al-Hilal and 6-0 to Al Nassr.

Miami's pre-season schedule was partly about raising fitness levels and building team cohesion, but it was just as much a commercial exercise. It was the start of the 2024 Messi roadshow.

Thursday's opponents had been selected because Newell's, from Rosario in Argentina, was Messi's boyhood club.

After he returned to the field at full-time for the customary post-game handshakes, Messi was met by a line of Newell's players each wanting their photo taken with him.

He politely obliged by posing with each of them one by one.

With pre-season now out of the way, Miami's 2024 campaign will begin for real next Wednesday (February 21).

The first game of the new Major League Soccer season will see Miami and Real Salt Lake go head to head at DRV PNK Stadium.

Lionel Messi pictured (left) posing for a photograph with Ian Glavinovich following a 1-1 draw between Inter Miami and Newell's Old Boys in Florida this week

X.com/MLS