The two-faced dragon still enjoys disaster

Messi, Messi, Messi. This was undoubtedly the main name to mark the days leading up to this Inter Miami-FC Porto match, counting towards the second round of the Club World Cup. After all, it was precisely against the Dragons that the Argentine star made his debut for Barcelona's first team, on 16 November 2003, at the inauguration of the Estádio do Dragão. Since then, in the last 22 years, Leo Messi and FC Porto have only crossed paths on one more occasion, when the Blaugranas beat the Blues and Whites in the 2011 European Super Cup, in Monaco (2-0). Although the flea is one of the main trademarks of this World Cup, the new format implemented by FIFA had the particularity of putting the Dragons and Porto players face to face for the first time, something that would have been unthinkable in any other situation.

As for Martín Anselmi's team — who bowed to the greatness of his compatriot in the press conference —, the debut was not positive, but it was not negative either, with the goalless draw (0-0) against Palmeiras leading to this second leg of the Group A decisions, since, in the opening match, Inter Miami and Al Ahly also did not get past the goalless draw (0-0). With Diogo Costa recovering from injury — he has been forced to undergo conditioned training —, Cláudio Ramos took advantage of his debut in international matches to show that he is a highly valid option for the Porto goal, at a time when it seems inevitable that the Portuguese team will be kept in the starting line-up. Even so, the main setback faced by the Portuguese delegation was a three-hour delay, due to bad weather, on the flight from Newark to Atlanta, the city that hosted this match against one of the home teams... which played around a thousand kilometres from Miami.

Inter Miami-FC Porto (2-1)

2nd round of Group A of the Club World Cup

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta (United States)

Referee: Cristián Garay (Chile)

Inter Miami: Óscar Ustari; Marcelo Weigandt (Tomás Aviles, 53'), Ian Fray (Jordi Alba, 79'), Maximiliano Falcón, Noah Allen; Sergio Busquets, Benja Cremaschi, Tadeo Allende (Fafà Picault, 79'), Telasco Segovia (Federico Redondo, 71'); Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez

Substitutes not used: William Yarbrough, Rocco Rios; David Martinez, Ryan Sailor, Baltasar Gallego, Santi Morales, Leo Alfonso and Allen Obando

Coach: Javier Mascherano

FC Porto: Claudio Ramos; Martin Fernandes (Gonçalo Borges, 59'), Ze Pedro, Ivan Marcano (Deniz Gül, 87'); Joao Mario, Alan Varela (William Gomes, 74'), Fabio Vieira, Francisco Moura (Otavio Ataide, 87'); Gabri Veiga (Stephen Eustaquio, 59'), Rodrigo Mora and Samu Aghehowa

Substitutes not used: Diogo Fernandes; Zaidu Sanusi, Nehuen Perez, Vasco Sousa, Andre Franco, Tomás Perez, Andre Oliveira, Pepê, Danny Namaso and Angel Alarcón.

Coach: Martin Anselmi

Goals: Samu (gp, 8'), Segovia (47'), Messi (54')

Disciplinary action: nothing to report

“In a World Cup format, with three matches, all of them are important. If you don’t get a good result, you’re far from qualifying. Even if we get a good result in this game, we’ll also have to get one in the last game. I’ve always thought about how to prepare for a game against Messi. But now we’ve decided to think about ourselves, about recovering physically, about how to win the ball back. That will be important. The more time we have the ball, the less damage Inter and Messi will do. But, yes, having the opportunity to face him is a challenge and even a way to celebrate our profession. As an Argentine, Messi has given us a lot of joy. But, for me, having to face him is just another player we have to defend well. We know that the ball can’t get past him and, the more we can do that, the closer we’ll get to victory. We have to think about ourselves and know that our defensive strategy doesn’t depend on one player,” Anselmi began by saying in a press conference that took place in the early hours of this Thursday.

“Not all supposedly stronger teams have been superior in the competition. We know what we want. We didn’t have the rhythm we wanted against Palmeiras. We came from holidays, from breaks and that’s incomparable to continuous activity. We’ve recovered our players in recent days and that’s what we’ll continue to do. We’re going up against a team that likes to have the ball, with players who work magic on the pitch. We have to control the game through our positioning with the ball. When we don’t have it, we have to recover it as quickly as possible. We have to be intense and aggressive without the ball, only then can we think about looking forward and winning the three points. The essence of FC Porto is to be the protagonist and that’s what we want to be. South American teams are always competitive and hungry to compete until the end, they never give up on a play or a game. They are big teams, with a lot of history and important titles. The European teams are feeling the pause in the calendar. It’s going to be a very interesting second round”, he analysed.

Two Argentine managers leading their teams in a #FIFACWC clash. ????????? pic.twitter.com/2ewPzqdQFE

— FIFA Club World Cup (@FIFACWC) June 19, 2025

The hours leading up to the match were marked by a big question mark surrounding the main protagonist of this match: Messi was seen complaining about his left thigh at the start of the last training session and was in doubt right before the final whistle. Even so, the Argentinean managed to recover and was present in Javier Mascherano's starting eleven, which had two changes: Marcelo Weigandt replaced Tomás Áviles in central defence and Benja Cremaschi reinforced the midfield, replacing Federico Redondo. On the bench, Jordi Alba and Allen Obando returned from injury and were the big changes. For Porto, Martín Anselmi opted not to make any changes and started the team that played against the South Americans, with Ramos and Martim Fernandes in central defence, and without Diogo Costa on the bench.

In an imposing Mercedes-Benz Stadium — which has a legendary retractable roof inspired by the wings of a falcon, a circular screen bigger than the Eiffel Tower and entrances are made through facial recognition — Inter Miami came out fearless and, in a move in which there was even an offside, a spectacular pass from Messi to Luis Suárez almost led to the first goal (2′). The flea continued to take advantage of the space between the lines given by Porto but, against the run of play, Noah Allen stepped on João Mário inside the American area and, some time later, Cristián Garay awarded the penalty. Samu Aghehowa stopped the shot and shot towards the right wing of Óscar Ustari, who guessed the side, touched the ball, but was unable to prevent the goal, with the ball passing under his body (8′). From then on, the Herons once again took control of the match, with FC Porto remaining passive and waiting, and, after another precise pass from Messi, Suárez broke through, but once again lost the duel with Ramos (19').

SAMMMUUUUUUU ????

???? @FIFACWC | @InterMiamiCF 0 x 1 @FCPorto pic.twitter.com/i9CEWFtYQt

— DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) June 19, 2025

With the game at a slow pace and both teams waiting, although the ball remained at the feet of the pink team, the Dragons improved as half-time approached, but Cláudio Ramos continued to be imperious in goal, denying Cremaschi's goal with an unorthodox save with his left foot (35'). In response, Francisco Moura moved upfield and crossed low into the area, Samu passed to Rodrigo Mora who, after adjusting, shot towards goal, but Maximiliano Falcón prevented the ball from going in, cutting it right at the goal, at a stage when Ustari was beaten (39'). To close the first half, Alan Varela received the ball on the edge of the area, gained space, pulled it onto his right foot and, from outside the area, unleashed a great shot that hit the right post of the American goal, before deflecting it behind Ustari, who managed to stop the ball from going in (44'). Thus, the dragons went into the break ahead (0-1).

Upon returning to the pitch, Anselmi's team started off sleepy and, just over a minute into the game, conceded the equaliser, in a move in which Marcelo Weigandt combined with Tadeo Allende and crossed into the heart of the area, where former Casa Pia player Telasco Segovia appeared from behind to unleash a great first-time shot (47'). Shortly afterwards, Inter Miami benefited from a free kick at the edge of the area, after Zé Pedro allegedly blocked Messi and, from the spot, the Argentine did his thing again and completed the comeback with a fantastic shot into the top right corner of the Porto goal (54'). The Dragons' reaction continued to be lacking and the Argentine coach tried to revitalise the attack with Gonçalo Borges in place of Gabri Veiga, as well as with the introduction of Stephen Eustáquio, to replace Martim.

Segovia ties the match.

???? @FIFACWC | @InterMiamiCF 1 x 1 @FCPorto pic.twitter.com/5QwNgjx4fu

— DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) June 19, 2025

Messi.

???? @FIFACWC | @InterMiamiCF 2 x 1 @FCPorto pic.twitter.com/lfG4gcT6BI

— DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) June 19, 2025

Despite the changes, the Portuguese team continued to fail to create any danger in the second half and had few offensive glimpses, with the Americans managing to control the game as they pleased. Lacking ideas and struggling in the final third, Anselmi opted to bring in another fast player in attack: William Gomes. With the system changed and a four-man defence, there were few improvements, despite some runs down the flanks, mainly through Borges. In a move designed by Mora, Samu headed wide (81'). Shortly afterwards, with Otávio Ataíde and Deniz Gül on the pitch, the Spanish international had space at the edge of the area, but his shot went way over (90'). In the long period of injury time — lasting seven minutes —, Inter Miami fought for survival and almost came close to scoring a third goal, with Cláudio Ramos saving Fafà Picault's shot with another great stop (90+7'). The result was far from the best and the dragons arrive at the last round dependent on third parties and obliged to win (2-1).

• He was in doubt, but he started, played the full 90 minutes — plus injury time — and was once again decisive. At 37 years old, Leo Messi continues to do what he does best, despite having stepped away from the spotlight of the big European stages and having moved to the MLS. Inter Miami wasn't even supposed to be in this Club World Cup, but they are and are threatening to get through the group stage thanks to their captain's brainpower. In the first half, his team's main attacking moves came from his feet. In the second, he "drew" a foul on Zé Pedro and, in a sort of penalty kick just outside the box, scored a great goal... like Messi.

• At a time when the big names in Portuguese football are looking for a midfielder capable of taking charge of their team's game, the question remains: how did Telasco Segovia get away with it? The Venezuelan midfielder was at Casa Pia for a season and a half and ended up moving to Inter Miami for… 2.5 million euros. This Thursday, fate would have it that he was one of the protagonists in the defeat of the blue and whites, scoring a spectacular goal at the start of the second half.

• The result was good for some and bad for others. As is the norm in football, one team smiled and the other was left feeling sorry for itself. In this case, it was Inter Miami who came out on top and, with four points after two games, only needs a draw against Palmeiras to progress. Interestingly, the Brazilians also depend on this result, so it is not expected that FC Porto will have an easy time. In Group A, one point after two games is clearly not enough for the Dragons, who are obliged to beat Al Ahly to, at the very least, leave a good impression on North American soil.

• Despite playing at home, Inter Miami had to travel around a thousand kilometres to “host” FC Porto in Atlanta and, as expected, the number of spectators was once again low. With the upper ring closed, as is usual in football matches held at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the crowd did not go beyond the lower rings, something that FIFA tried to get around with the plans presented in the television broadcast. Official figures? 31,783 spectators. For a stadium with a capacity of over 70,000 in American football, and with over 42,000 for this World Cup, this is very low… It should be noted that the match started at 3 pm local time, on a work day.