Sub Messi Scores But Miami Held by Colorado

Argentina's forward Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring his team's first goal - his 100th with the national team - during the friendly football match between Argentina and Curacao at the Madre de Ciudades stadium in Santiago del Estero, in northern Argentina, on March 28, 2023. (AFP)
Argentina's forward Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring his team's first goal - his 100th with the national team - during the friendly football match between Argentina and Curacao at the Madre de Ciudades stadium in Santiago del Estero, in northern Argentina, on March 28, 2023. (AFP)
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Sub Messi Scores But Miami Held by Colorado

Argentina's forward Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring his team's first goal - his 100th with the national team - during the friendly football match between Argentina and Curacao at the Madre de Ciudades stadium in Santiago del Estero, in northern Argentina, on March 28, 2023. (AFP)
Argentina's forward Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring his team's first goal - his 100th with the national team - during the friendly football match between Argentina and Curacao at the Madre de Ciudades stadium in Santiago del Estero, in northern Argentina, on March 28, 2023. (AFP)

Lionel Messi scored after coming off the bench but his Inter Miami were held to a 2-2 draw by the Colorado Rapids in Major League Soccer on Saturday.

The Argentine had been out of action for almost a month with a hamstring injury, missing the last four games, but was named among the substitutes for the home game.

Messi missed Wednesday's 2-1 home defeat to Mexico's Monterrey in the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarter-final and with the return game on Wednesday, Inter coach Gerard Martino rotated his squad.

Martino fielded a heavily second-string line-up with Messi's former Barcelona team-mates Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba also on the bench, AFP reported.

The youthful starting XI looked comfortable, without threatening too often, but fell behind on the stroke of half-time when defender Ryan Sailor lunged into a rash challenge in the box on Colorado's French forward Kevin Cabral.

The Rapids' Brazilian forward Rafael Navarro drilled home the penalty to give Colorado a 1-0 lead at the break.

Messi was brought on after the interval and made an instant impact.

After just 12 minutes on the field, the Argentine World Cup-winner brought Miami level firing home off the inside of the post after meeting Franco Negri's low cross from the left.

Busquets was then introduced and Miami took the lead on the hour -- Messi bursting forward from midfield, feeding David Ruiz down the right and his cross was coolly converted by debutant Leonardo Afonso.

Messi then brought a fine save out of Colorado's former Manchester City goalkeeper Zack Steffen and then from a tight angle at the back post, struck the woodwork.

But the third goal never arrived and Miami paid the price in the 88th minute when Calvin Harris lead a counter-attack down the right and found Cole Bassett who slotted home the equaliser.

While Miami were disappointed to have the let two points slip from their grasp, the return to the field of Messi was a boost for Martino ahead of the trip to Monterrey.

"What Leo did is the usual for him, what he provokes in our team, in his teammates, in the people. The most important thing is that he felt comfortable, he felt good, he felt loose," said the coach.

"This will help him to be more confident, especially with regard to the injury, for the second leg in Monterrey," he added.

But Martino was disappointed with the way his team had given up the late goal.

"It is a shame to give up two points (...) but I think we continue to make mistakes that really make us drop points along the way.

"In the 87th minute, leading 2-1, to be caught on the counterattack is not usual, it is typical of not having a good reading of the match, of the moment, of not having people looking in front of them, we surely struggle with that," he said.

In the Los Angeles derby -- LAFC beat the LA Galaxy 2-1 after a controversial penalty from Denis Bouanga.

Timothy Tillman put LAFC in front in the fourth minute, bundling the ball home from close range after a corner.

The Galaxy pulled level in the 29th minute through Argentine Julian Aude who saw a shot strike the post but pounced on the rebound, had another shot blocked before drilling home at the third attempt.

But the outcome was decided by a questionable penalty award when French-born forward Bouanga went down under challenge from the Galaxy's Japanese defender Miki Yamane.

Bouanga looked to have dragged his own foot and then drawn some slight contact and the VAR sent referee Jon Freemon to the pitchside monitor but surprisingly he opted to stick with his decision.

Bouanga, last season's top scorer in MLS, converted the spot kick to earn LAFC the three points.

Defending champions Columbus Crew had to battle back with 10 men to salvage a 1-1 draw at home to D.C. United.

Belgian forward Christian Benteke put D.C. ahead in the 61st minute with a close range finish before the Crew's Colombian striker Cucho Hernandez, returning after a three-match absence, was sent off for lashing out at Christopher McVey.

But three minutes from the end, Aidan Morris levelled for Columbus with a thundering strike from 25 yards out.



Dortmund Loses Again with Early Exit from German Cup to Increase Pressure on Coach

(L-R) Dortmund's German midfielder #10 Julian Brandt, Dortmund's Austrian midfielder #20 Marcel Sabitzer and Dortmund's German midfielder #08 Felix Nmecha react after the German Cup (DFB Pokal) 2nd round football match between VfL Wolfsburg and BVB Borussia Dortmund, in Wolfsburg, northern Germany on October 29, 2024.  (Photo by Ronny HARTMANN / AFP)
(L-R) Dortmund's German midfielder #10 Julian Brandt, Dortmund's Austrian midfielder #20 Marcel Sabitzer and Dortmund's German midfielder #08 Felix Nmecha react after the German Cup (DFB Pokal) 2nd round football match between VfL Wolfsburg and BVB Borussia Dortmund, in Wolfsburg, northern Germany on October 29, 2024. (Photo by Ronny HARTMANN / AFP)
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Dortmund Loses Again with Early Exit from German Cup to Increase Pressure on Coach

(L-R) Dortmund's German midfielder #10 Julian Brandt, Dortmund's Austrian midfielder #20 Marcel Sabitzer and Dortmund's German midfielder #08 Felix Nmecha react after the German Cup (DFB Pokal) 2nd round football match between VfL Wolfsburg and BVB Borussia Dortmund, in Wolfsburg, northern Germany on October 29, 2024.  (Photo by Ronny HARTMANN / AFP)
(L-R) Dortmund's German midfielder #10 Julian Brandt, Dortmund's Austrian midfielder #20 Marcel Sabitzer and Dortmund's German midfielder #08 Felix Nmecha react after the German Cup (DFB Pokal) 2nd round football match between VfL Wolfsburg and BVB Borussia Dortmund, in Wolfsburg, northern Germany on October 29, 2024. (Photo by Ronny HARTMANN / AFP)

Borussia Dortmund's losing run hit a new low with elimination from the German Cup in a 1-0 second-round loss to Wolfsburg on Tuesday to increase the pressure on coach Nuri Sahin.
Dortmund's injury-hit team struggled to generate scoring chances in a drab 90 minutes before Wolfsburg forward Jonas Wind settled the game in extra time with a 116th-minute goal, The Associated Press reported.
That consigned last season's Champions League runner-up Dortmund to a third straight loss in all competitions, a fifth defeat in a row in away games, and its earliest cup exit since the 2010-11 season.
“It's not about my personal situation, it's about moving the club forward, getting back to winning ways as soon as possible, winning our games,” the 36-year-old Sahin, who took over from Edin Terzic in the off-season, told broadcaster Sky. “Believe me, it's extremely bitter and disappointing for me too that we're in a situation like this right now, but we can't do anything other than keep going.”
The frustration was visible as goalkeeper Gregor Kobel hurled his gloves against the bench after the final whistle.
Even playing extra time was a problem for Dortmund, given its lengthy injury list.
Midfielders Pascal Gross and Emre Can had to fill gaps in the defense and Sahin, who was already under pressure after Dortmund's losses at Real Madrid and Augsburg last week, made only one substitution in the 90 minutes, bringing on American forward Cole Campbell for only his second senior Dortmund game.
Marcel Sabitzer made an extra-time cameo off the bench despite carrying a back injury, but his most notable contribution was losing the ball to Wind for the Danish striker to score Wolfsburg's goal.
Dortmund's busy schedule doesn't let up with a game against Leipzig in the Bundesliga on Saturday and a visit from Austria's Sturm Graz in the Champions League next week.
Leverkusen and Leipzig progress Last season's German Cup winner Bayer Leverkusen cruised into the third round with a 3-0 win over second-tier Elversberg. Patrik Schick scored twice in the first nine minutes and Aleix Garcia converted a free kick for his first goal since joining Leverkusen from Girona for this season.
Leipzig beat St. Pauli 4-2 to avoid a repeat of last season's second-round exit when it was the two-time defending champion in the cup.
Leipzig had a 3-1 lead after 30 minutes but St. Pauli got back into the game with Eric Smith's lob in the 58th and was pushing to level the score. The 19-year-old Norway winger Antonio Nusa dribbled past two defenders and scored Leipzig's fourth to secure the win.
Stuttgart had to work hard to break down last season's cup finalist Kaiserslautern in a 2-1 win settled by Chris Führich's first goal of the season in the 75th.
Second-tier Cologne upset Bundesliga club Holstein Kiel 3-0, while Augsburg beat second-division Schalke 3-0 to reach the third round for the first time since 2018-19. The lowest-ranked team left in the competition, fourth-tier Kickers Offenbach, was beaten 2-0 by second-division Karlsruhe.
Ten-man Jahn Regensburg held on to beat Greuther Fürth 1-0 after goalscorer Rasim Bulic was sent off for a dangerous tackle.