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Lionel Messi And Luis Suarez Draw Another Pre-Season Blank For Inter Miami In Defeat By Dallas

Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez drew blanks for the second pre-season game in a row as Inter Miami fell to a 1-0 loss to FC Dallas at the Cotton Bowl on Monday.

Robert Summerscales

Lionel Messi And Luis Suarez Draw Another Pre-Season Blank For Inter Miami In Defeat By Dallas
Lionel Messi And Luis Suarez Draw Another Pre-Season Blank For Inter Miami In Defeat By Dallas /

Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez drew blanks for the second pre-season game in a row as Inter Miami fell to a 1-0 loss against FC Dallas at the Cotton Bowl on Monday night.

The defeat came just four days after Suarez had made his Miami debut in a 0-0 draw with the El Salvador national team. 

Dallas took the lead after just 147 seconds thanks to a fine low finish by USMNT striker Jesus Ferreira.

Messi almost equalized direct from a corner kick in the eighth minute but he was denied a memorable Olimpico goal by a save from Maarten Paes.

Paes made another sharp stop to thwart Messi again five minutes later.

Suarez came close to scoring his first Miami goal shortly before half-time when he got on the end of an exquisite Messi pass but the Uruguayan sent a flying volley just wide.

Messi and Suarez had been subbed off at the interval in San Salvador on Friday but both started the second half in Dallas.

A long-range volley from Messi forced substitute keeper Jimmy Maurer into action 10 minutes after the restart.

But Messi and his former Barcelona strike partner were then withdrawn in the 64th minute. Suarez was visibly frustrated as he left the field.

Luis Suarez pictured during Inter Miami's pre-season friendly game against FC Dallas in January 2024
Luis Suarez recorded two shots for Inter Miami in a 1-0 defeat against FC Dallas on Monday / www.mlssoccer.com

The rest of the game was largely uneventful, although Dallas had a strong penalty appeal turned down for a possible handball by Serhiy Kryvtsov.

Next up for Miami is a trip to Saudi Arabia where they will take on Al-Hilal and Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr.

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Robert Summerscales
ROBERT SUMMERSCALES

Robert Summerscales launched FanNation Futbol in February 2022. Rob is a British journalist who previously spent two years on the sports desk at the Daily Mail in London, having earlier served as editor of CaughtOffside.com. He has been to the last two FIFA Men's World Cups, in Russia and Qatar, and is looking forward to completing his hat-trick in North America in 2026.