After 2-2 draw against Palmeiras - Inter Miami to face Messi's former club PSG in round of 16

It is an impressive statistic. Lionel Messi's teams have progressed in all 33 group stages they've appeared in over his career. The 33rd time would occur on Monday night as Inter Miami CF secured an impressive 2-2 draw against Brazilian giants Palmeiras. In front of 60,194 fans at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, Tadeo Allende (16’) and Luis Suárez (65’) gave Inter Miami the lead before Paulinho and Mauricio equalized for the Brazilian giants.

With the parallel match between Al-Ahly and Porto ending in a 4-4 draw, both Miami and Palmeiras advanced. But the late Mauricio equalizer meant that Inter Miami would drop to second place in Group A, setting up a round of 16 clash against Messi’s former team, Paris Saint-Germain. The Parisians qualified for the round of 16 earlier on Monday with a 2-0 win over Miami’s Major League Soccer rivals Seattle Sounders.

That clash will come with its own storylines, as Messi didn’t exactly leave PSG in good faith. “The way things have evolved in my last years in Paris, even though it was a decision that I had to make immediately because I had to leave Barcelona, I lived there for two years, and I didn’t like it,” Messi said in an interview with Apple Music in March. "I wasn’t happy on a daily basis, in training, in games, I had a hard time adapting to all of this.”

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“Let’s see,” Luis Enrique said when asked about potentially facing Messi in the round of 16. Enrique then quickly stood up and left the press conference rather than elaborating on potentially facing his former player. His players were equally evasive about the question. “We have to be ready no matter who we face,” Vitinha said in the mixed zone.

Now, the matchup is a reality, with the two facing each other on Sunday, June 29, at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. And Inter Miami with Messi will provide an interesting challenge for the UEFA Champions League winners. The Argentine didn’t score tonight against Palmeiras but was still among the best players on the pitch. Furthermore, Messi did score the winner against Porto (2-1) on matchday 2, paving the way for Miami to advance out of a difficult group in the first place.

Inter Miami are also the only MLS team to make it out of the group stage. While the Sounders were officially eliminated today, LAFC was eliminated from the group stage with one match to go after suffering defeats to Esperance and Chelsea. That also means a significant financial windfall for the Beckham-owned club. Inter Miami earned $9.55 million for participating in the group stage, an additional $4m from the tournament's results thus far, and will receive an extra $7.5m for reaching the round of 16.