Los Angeles: Luis Suarez equalized in stoppage time after Lionel Messi had reduced the deficit as Inter Miami fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 in the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions Cup round of 16 tie on Thursday.
Canadian winger Jacob Shaffelburg put Nashville up 2-0 before Miami came back with two superbly scored goals.
Goals from the former Barcelona forwards, who scored in Saturday’s 5-0 win over Orlando, make Miami favorites to return to South Florida on Wednesday for a quarter-final appearance.
Miami defeated Nashville on penalties in the League Cup final last season, returning the regional debuts of Messi, Busquets and Suarez.
Coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino handed Argentina’s new signing Federico Redondo a debut in midfield, but Spain’s Jordi Alba was absent due to illness.
But Miami fumbled early after Nashville’s Shaq Moore broke through midfield and fed Shaffelburg, who put a left-footed drive past Drake Callender from the edge of the box.
Sporting a distinctive mullet haircut, the Canadian doubled the lead two minutes after the break with an even better finish, cutting in from the left and sending an unstoppable right-footed shot high into the far top corner.
However, Miami responded strongly and six minutes later, Messi pulled a goal back with a signature left-footed curler.
Suarez set him up on the edge of the box and despite having four defenders in close proximity, Argentina’s World Cup winner found space to work the ball onto his left foot before finding a corner.
Miami had a Diego Gomez attempt ruled out for offside, but Nashville wasn’t ready to put their backs against the wall just yet.
Moore cut in from the right and beat Callender to send the 26,000 crowd into a frenzy, but a VAR review found that Moore was narrowly offside from an earlier move and the goal was disallowed.
But then, deep in stoppage time, he got the ball from the right to Busquets and the Spanish veteran floated in a cross that was headed by Suarez.
Monterrey USA forward Brandon Vazquez earlier scored on his return to his former club Cincinnati as the Mexican club enjoyed a 1-0 win in the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 first leg on Thursday.
Cincinnati, who won the Supporters’ Shield last season for the best regular-season record in Major League Soccer, started brightly and had the ball in the net in the 18th minute, but Corey Baird’s effort was ruled out for offside.
Six minutes later, however, the Liga MX team led and the breakthrough came from former home favorite Vazquez.
Maximiliano Mesa found the forward in the box and his right-footed effort slipped under the body of Cincinnati goalkeeper Roman Celentan, who should have done much better.
It was Vazquez’s seventh goal in 11 games since joining the five-time CONCACAF champions in the year and will strengthen his case for inclusion in Gregg Berhalter’s USA squad for the upcoming Nations League finals.
Monterrey were reduced to ten men in the 70th minute when VAR ruled Rodrigo Aguirre had hit Baird off the ball in front of the corner.
With their numerical advantage heading into the final 20 minutes, Cincinnati piled on the pressure, but Monterrey goalkeeper Esteban Andrada kept out Sergio Santos’ effort after good work from Luciano Acosta.
