LOS ANGELES.- In his first defeat with Javier Mascherano as coach, the Inter Miami of Lionel Messi lost on Wednesday 1-0 against Los Angeles FC (LAFC) in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Champions Cup.
Nathan Ordaz, a young American attacker of Salvadoran origin, was the author of the only Diana in the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles with a shot from outside the area to 57 minutes.
The Inter, who will host the return on April 9, was undefeated this year under the command of the Argentine Mascherano, who relieved his compatriot Gerardo Martino after the failure in the last playoffs of the American League (MLS).
With ‘El Jefecito’ in front, Florida squad chained eight victories and a draw on its tour of the champions and MLS Cup, in which she is the leader of the Eastern Conference.
The first defeat “knew that sooner or later it was going to arrive, the most important thing is to recover,” Mascherano told the press.
“Obviously, we didn’t have our best night. They defended very well, but it’s the first leg,” he said. “We have another game in our house, with our people and we can turn it around, I have no doubt.”
Messi started as a starter for the first time from the muscle injury he suffered on March 16.
Inter, represented in the box by its co -owner David Beckham, has this competition as one of its main objectives, after in its first participation was eliminated last year by Monterrey in the quarterfinals.
A total of 22,207 fans, a good part of them with Inter or the Argentine National Team, filled the stands of the Stadium BMO for the visit of the Argentine star.
Personalities such as the NBA star, Stephen Curry, or singers Lionel Richie and Becky G.
Red “in China and on the moon”
On a very gray night of Inter, Messi found no support to dismantle the effective defensive system of the FC.
Its main danger actions arrived in free throws that failed to pierce the arch of veteran Hugo Lloris, with which it was reunited after the final of the 2022 World Cup, which Argentina won France.
In the 27th minute, Inter players claimed the expulsion of Ordaz for hitting the Uruguayan defense Maxi Falcón after a encounter between them, but the referee settled the action with a warning for the promise of the FC.
“Here there is no interpretation. Aggression without ball is red. Here, in China and on the moon,” Mascherano cried against the arbitration decision.
After the break, the LAFC redoubled the intensity and the occasions began to fall from their side.
In one of them, Ordaz received the ball in three quarters of court and released a whipper that surprised the Argentine Oscar Ustari.
The LAFC was able to expand the advantage in 64 with a shot by Timothy Tillman that Falcón took out in the goal line.
Mascherano kept Messi until the end and his partner Luis Suarez but, in the midst of the shortage of ideas in attack, the frustration among the veterans of the Inter was increasing.
The Spanish Sergio Busquets played the expulsion with a tough entry to Turkish Cengiz ünder that generated an reprimand that separates him from the second leg.
Another shoot of Messi’s lack above the crossbar was Inter’s last option.
