Lionel Messi struggles in his first game at Yankee Stadium as Inter Miami and NYCFC battle to a 1-1 draw in the Bronx

Off the 161st Street stop on the 4 train in the Bronx, Yankee Stadium’s seats flooded in blue and pink shirts as Lionel Messi and Inter Miami took on New York City FC on Saturday afternoon.

In the end, Messi’s subpar outing ended in a 1-1 draw, as New York City’s James Sands scored his first MLS goal to shut the noise. 

While the spectators came to get a glimpse of Messi’s greatness, the hosts started the first half with their foot on the pedal.

The boys in blue were threatening, determined to spoil Messi’s moment. While the game was scoreless at the intermission, NYCFC outshot Miami 5-3 in the first half.

Furthermore, they dimmed Messi’s light in the first 45 minutes. Apart from a free-kick attempt that went wide early on, the Argentine could not seem to work his magic against the Pigeons’ defense.

The Herons failed to score until the 75th minute as NYCFC defense proved dominant 

NYCFC would come out of the tunnel guns blazing, manufacturing two shots within the first five minutes of the second.

As a nearly-sold out stadium began to fizzle out with Messi’s left foot failing to produce moments. He started the play that would open the scoring in the 75th minute.

Messi threaded a ball down to Jordi Alba, who squared it to Leo Campana for the goal – minutes after being subbed into the contest.

Miami looked to ride the narrow lead into the final whistle when Sands found the back of the net in the dying minutes. NYCFC’s nightmare routine of dropping games near the end during promising performances held strong up until Sands’ heroics came to the rescue.

In the final minute of stoppage time, Sands’ head found a corner kick from Santi Rodriguez to have what was a pro-Messi crowd cheering for NYCFC. 

The draw moved the Herons to 20-7-4, as they continue to lead the Eastern Conference with 67 points.

On the other hand, New York has extended their winless streak to nine games, sitting sixth with an 11-8-11 record and 41 points.

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