A wonderful half-volley from Baltasar Rodriguez helped a much-changed Inter Miami side rally from a goal behind to draw 1-1 with D.C. United on Saturday.

Rodriguez was introduced alongside Sergio Busquets and Rodrigo De Paul early in the second half, with Miami trailing after Javier Mascherano opted to rest players ahead of their midweek Leagues Cup semi-final against Orlando City.

And he marked the occasion with his first MLS goal in the 64th minute, sending a sensational first-time strike spinning into the far corner from the edge of the area.

Miami, who were still without the injured Lionel Messi, had started slowly and fell behind when D.C. captain Jackson Hopkins fired home on the turn in the 13th minute.

Aaron Herrera also sent a header wide while Hosei Kijima drew a one-on-one save from Miami's stand-in goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo as the hosts failed to put themselves out of sight. 

And Mascherano's triple substitution 10 minutes into the second half changed the game, with Rodriguez seeing a shot skim the base of the post moments after coming on.

His second shot eight minutes later gave Luis Barraza no chance, with the Argentine cutting across the ball with the outside of his right boot to find the top-right corner.

Jacob Murrell twice went close to a winner for D.C., hitting the outside of the post then seeing a cultured finish chalked off for offside, as Miami held out for a point.

Miami are fifth in the Eastern Conference standings, 12 points off the Philadelphia Union in first with three games in hand, while D.C. are now officially out of the playoff hunt.

Data Debrief: Miami dig deep without Messi

Miami had won seven of their last eight games in MLS when Messi has appeared (one loss), but he was unavailable on Saturday after suffering a recurrence of a muscle injury.

However, they showed good character to rally for a draw, having made five changes to their starting lineup.

And their record without Messi remains strong. Since the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner made his MLS debut in August 2023, Miami have won 56.4% of the MLS games he has appeared in (22/39), and that figure only drops to 54.8% without him (17/31). 

Miami do average just 1.9 goals per game without Messi compared to 2.4 with him, but their points-per-game figure only drops slightly without him, from 2.0 to 1.8.