Lionel Messi scores equalizer, Inter Miami settles for 1-1 tie at home vs. Charlotte FC

Inter Miami’s La Familia, the pulsating pink pack of ardent supporters, rocked the north stands of Chase Stadium Saturday night, singing, banging drums, doing their part to energize Lionel Messi and his teammates in a critical home game against Charlotte FC.

The Argentine captain delivered, scoring the equalizing goal with a left-footed blast to the bottom left corner in the 67th minute, 10 minutes after Charlotte had taken the lead. Marcelo Weigandt had the assist. Messi celebrated by posing as superhero Iron Man, on his tip toes, eyes to the sky, outward hands down as he looked over at his three sons, who are big fans of Marvel movies.

It was Messi’s third goal since his return from injury four games ago, but for the third match in a row, Inter Miami had to settle for a tie.

Luis Suarez, sporting platinum blond hair, had a golden chance to score the game-winner in added time, but his close-range shot sailed over the crossbar. He fell to the ground, arguing that he had been fouled. But the referee told them to play on. Messi continued to argue with officials after the final whistle and was slapped with a yellow card.

Fortunately for the men in pink, neither of the other top two teams in the Eastern Conference won, either. Second-place Columbus tied D.C. United and Cincinnati FC lost to Los Angeles FC.

Miami has 65 points with three games remaining in the regular season. The Crew has 57 and Cincinnati has 56. Miami can clinch the Supporters’ Shield with a win on the road against Columbus on Wednesday.

“Yes, we are frustrated with three ties in a row, and it’s a shame we couldn’t take advantage of Columbus’ draw with D.C., but it’s not like we did not have chances to win [Saturday],” Miami coach Tata Martino said. “We had chances to score in the first half and the second half.”

The coach added that last year, nobody would have complained about ties, but now that the team sits in first place with 65 points and just four losses, the expectations are much higher, which he and the players understand.

“We were a team that habitually lost for years, and now, we are a team that habitually wins, and that raises expectations,” he said “It should be noted that we have worked very hard to change the perception of this team, and we’ve done it having to use many different lineups due to injuries and national team duty.”

With the Supporters’ Shield within reach, Martino went with his strongest lineup on Saturday.

Messi, Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba were all in the Starting XI, as well as Drake Callender, Tomas Aviles, Fede Redondo, Julian Gressel, Marcelo Weigandt, Yannick Bright and Diego Gomez, who returned from a hamstring strain.

They dominated possession in the first half, 60 percent to 40. Suarez had a few chances, but failed to finish. Messi made a couple of brilliant passes, and had two opportunities to score, but one was a weak shot to the goalkeeper and the other went just wide. The score remained knotted 0-0 at halftime.

Messi took a left-footed shot in the 51st minute off a pass from Suarez, but it was saved by Charlotte goalkeeper Krisijian Kahlina. Then, six minutes later, Charlotte shocked Miami and took a 1-0 lead when Karol Swiderski scored from long range, quieting the Chase Stadium crowd, which included French soccer star Paul Pogba.

Coming off a pair of ties against teams they were expected to beat, Inter Miami players said in the buildup to Saturday’s game that they were ready to get back to their winning ways.

Despite another draw, Miami remains on pace to win the Supporters’ Shield, which would assure Miami home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Miami is also on pace to break the all-time MLS points record (73), which New England Revolution set in 2021.

Inter Miami has been atop the standings all year, has 69 goals, more than any team in the league, and its plus-24 goal differential is second only to the Crew.

Messi has 15 goals and 15 assists in 15 games. Suarez has 17 goals and six assists in 24 games.

Miami settled for a pair of draws on the road at Atlanta United and NYCFC, making the points record a bit harder to get, but still reachable.

Charlotte has won just once in the past six matches, a 4-0 victory over the New England Revolution last weekend.

Matias Rojas was on the bench for Miami, back on the game roster after an ankle injury kept him out the past several weeks. He entered the game at the 60-minute mark, replacing Gressel, and made an immediate impact. The rest of the bench included Robert Taylor, Ian Fray, Oscar Ustari, Sergiy Kryvtsov, Benja Cremaschi, Franco Negri, David Ruiz, and Leo Campana, who scored goals in the previous two games.

Fray, Cremaschi, Ruiz and Campana all got into the game late.

Charlotte’s starters: Kristijan Kahlina, Tim Ream, Nathan Byrne, Adilson Malanda, Ashley Westwood, Pel Biel, Brandt Bronico, Junior Urso, Andrew Privett, Karol Swiderski, Liel Abada.

Note: There were three pitch invaders during the match. All were children. They were swiftly removed from the field. Asked about it, Martino replied: “If it happens at the World Cup, how is it not going to happen here?”