Inter Miami faced San Jose Earthquakes last night in an MLS match at the latter’s home stadium, ending in a 3-3 draw after 90 minutes of intense play.

The match started thrillingly, with Inter Miami scoring just 35 seconds into the game from a corner kick. Falcon headed in Jordi Alba’s cross to open the scoring. San Jose quickly responded, with Arango equalizing in the third minute from Christian Espinoza’s pass.

Both teams scored again in the first half. Lero put San Jose ahead in the 37th minute, but Alende equalized seven minutes later. San Jose took a 3-2 lead into halftime after Harkes scored in stoppage time with a left-footed strike from outside the box, assisted by Lero.

Inter Miami started the second half strongly, with Alende scoring the equalizer in the 52nd minute. Lionel Messi had a chance to secure the win late in the game, but his close-range effort in added time was saved by the San Jose goalkeeper.

This was Messi’s first game at this stadium, played in front of a sold-out crowd of 18,000 eager fans who had lined up hours before kickoff to see the Inter Miami star in action. His presence in the San Francisco Bay Area became a multi-day event, including a street celebration on Tuesday night and fans gathering outside the team’s hotel just to wave at him from the balcony.

The Argentine star had several good opportunities in the first half: first, on a counterattack after receiving a pass inside the box, he sent the ball just over the bar, and later, in the final seconds of the half, he fired a long-range shot wide, continuing his team’s struggles.