Atlanta United twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Inter Miami, with debutant Breel Embolo's penalty snatching them a late point at Nu Stadium.
Inter Miami 2-2 Atlanta United: Embolo's debut goal snatches late point
Inter Miami twice had the lead against Atlanta United, but in the end, it was Breel Embolo who had the decisive touch to salvage a draw.
Casemiro and Luis Suarez had scored on either side of Miguel Almiron's effort, but Atlanta kept pushing, with Embolo making amends for the Paraguayan's earlier penalty miss.
Kick-off in Miami was heavily delayed due to inclement weather, and the contest took some time to burst into life, with the first goal arriving in the 32nd minute.
Lionel Messi, playing for the first time since announcing his international retirement, swung in a corner and Casemiro drifted to the near post, losing his marker to thump a header past Lucas Hoyos.
Just three minutes later, Almiron pulled Atlanta level. Tomas Jacob's low cross clipped both Maximiliano Falcon and Dayne St. Clair, who was unable to keep it out of the net, and Almiron turned home the loose ball.
Messi then struck the crossbar with a lovely free-kick before Suarez restored Miami's lead in first-half stoppage time after skipping past Atlanta's defence to roll it into the back of the net.
Aleksey Miranchuk saw an effort cleared off the line in the 70th minute by Fricio Caicedo, but the referee pulled play back as Almiron was caught by Casemiro in the box in the build-up. However, St. Clair was equal to the penalty, getting low to his left to keep out the Atlanta captain's effort.
But the visitors got another chance to pull level from the spot after Embolo was tugged back by Caicedo, and the Switzerland international coolly stepped up to fire his penalty into the bottom-left corner in the 87th minute.
Messi makes more history, but Miami fall short
Miami ended a run of five games without a win in all competitions with a superb 7-1 thrashing of CF Montreal last time out, with Messi, as he so often is, the star of that show.
While he did not hit the same heights in this game, he still walked away from the game with two assists, taking his goal involvements tally to 30 (18 goals, 12 assists) for the season.
He is the first player in MLS history to reach that mark in three different campaigns, and he could have added to his goal tally amid a late goalmouth scramble, but he could not find a way past Hoyos.
But it was Embolo who had the final say in his first match since joining Atlanta in one of the biggest transfers in MLS history, with Almiron unselfishly handing the ball over after his miss earlier in the game.
The striker was a bright spark, having a joint-team-high three shots, though he only got one on target, and a joint-high of five touches in the opposition box. He also won nine of his 16 duels, more than anyone else on the pitch.
