Inter Miami’s midfielder Lionel Messi (left) battles for the ball with San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Beau Leroux during the teams 3-3 draw at Pay Pal Park on Wednesday MAY 14, 2025. (San Jose Earthquakes)

by Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — Messi Mania lived up to the hype in Silicon Valley.

Inter Miami came back from a one-goal deficit at halftime in an exciting 3-3 draw against the San Jose Earthquakes on Wednesday evening in front of a pro-Messi sold-out crowd at Pay Pal Park.

San Jose is unbeaten in their last three MLS matches. Inter Miami has earned points in two of its last three matches.

World renowned soccer superstar, many have called him the G.O.A.T., Lionel Messi made his triumphant debut in the South Bay with his Inter Miami squad to 18,000 frenzied fans who consistently chanted his name all night long throughout the match. Messi helped create two of the three goals against San Jose.

Messi only needed 35 seconds to make his impact on the match. After a corner kick, Messi made a pass back up to Jordi Alba and the Inter Miami defender crossed the ball into the middle of the box where an unmarked Maximiliano Falcón headed the ball past Quakes goalkeeper Daniel for his first goal of the season.

San Jose (5-6-2) answered two minutes later thanks to a blunder by Miami’s goalkeeper Oscar Ustari. Cristian Espinoza intercepted a clearing attempt by Ustari inside the box. Espinoza found Chico Arango all alone in the middle and the Colombian striker buried the ball into an open net for his team leading ninth goal of the season.

The first half explosion of offense continued for the Earthquakes in the 37th minute when they earned its first lead of the match. Vitor Costa found Ian Harkes just outside the box. Harkes attempted move into the box deflected over to Beau Leroux who drilled a shot off of the hand of Ustari into the bottom right corner of the net for his second goal of the season.

Inter Miami (6-2-4) evened the game in the 44th minute when Messi sent in a long ball out Alba. The Spanish fullback crossed the ball into the middle of the box where Allende finished off the tic-tac-toe play with a one-timer into an open net for his first goal in over two months.

“I think the biggest mistake we could have made tonight was to be too respectful of Messi. Some teams maybe get players around him a little tighter and try to dive the ball. We just want to play our game and try to be the better team tonight. At the same time, obviously have the greatest respect for a player of his skill and talent and all of that. So hopefully the people in the stands enjoyed the game,” Arena said.

The Earthquakes received a scare in the 31st minute when Arango had to leave the pitch after suffering a left leg injury. Arango was able to walk off under his own power but was replaced by Amahl Pellegrino.

San Jose responded and regained the lead four minutes into stoppage time to conclude a wild first half scoring bonanza. Pellegrino found Leroux along the right wing with a cross-pitch pass. Leroux quickly one-touched the ball over to Ian Harkes who beat Ustari with a left footed shot from 18 yards out for his first goal of the season.

Harkes’ goal was the 17th Inter Miami’s suspect defense has conceded in its last six matches.

A controversial foul by Pellegrino, who also received a yellow card on the play from referee Joe Dickerson, just outside the box with seconds left in the opening 45 minutes gave Messi a chance to even the score on the last play of half. However, his free kick sailed just wide to the right of the net.

Inter Miami scored the equalizer in the 52nd minute on Allende’s brace. Messi set up Baltasar Rodríguez along the right wing. Rodríguez crossed the ball into the middle where an unmarked Allende one-timed the ball into an open net for his fourth goal of the season.

The Quakes thought they had regained the lead in the 62nd minute when Ousseni Bouda found Espinoza along the right wing and Espinoza fired a shot into the back of the net past Ustari. However, Bouda was ruled offsides by the linesman on a late call.

Both teams had chances to score the winning goal during the five minutes of stoppage time in the second half. In the second minute, Alba found Messi all alone along the left side of the box. Messi’s shot attempt from point-blank range was kicked away by Daniel at the last moment to keep the score deadlocked. Then in the waning moments of the match, Hernan Lopez, who played his first MLS game since May 1 and came in as a substitute for Pellegrino in the 79th minute, fired a shot from 20 yards out that deflected off of Falcon and just wide right of the net.

Daniel finished the match with two saves on five shots on target while Ustari made three saves on six shots.

“We came out to the field with that in mind, the mindset to deliver three points. There were a lot of moments where we had control of the game, but obviously they have a really good player. So that’s why the game was really open for both teams. But it’s really important to get points. Either it’s three points or at least one point tonight. As I said before, we tried everything. So, we went for the three points, but at least we got one point. We need to keep growing as a team,” Espinoza said.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished with seven corner kicks. Inter Miami had two.

San Jose is 0-1-1 all time versus Inter Miami.

Arango moved into second in the MLS Golden Boot race to Philadelphia’s Tai Baribo, who has 10. It was the Colombian forward’s 62nd career MLS goal. He also played in his 200th MLS game tonight.

Espinoza recorded his eighth assist of the season on Arango’s goal to keep the MLS assist lead. It was his 79th career assist, a club record. He also continues to lead the league in key passes (49).

The Quakes continue to lead all MLS with 29 team goals after adding three more tonight. They are also tops in expected goals (29.78).

UP NEXT: San Jose travels to New England to take on the Revolution on Saturday May 17th at 4:30pm at Gillete Stadium.