The preseason friendly between Al-Hilal and Inter Miami saw the Saudi club take an early lead at the Kingdom Arena. Only 13 minutes into the game, Jorge Jesus’ men were already beating Lionel Messi and company 2-0.
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored the first of the night after 10′, finishing off a great team play as the MLS side was caught off guard at the back. Three minutes later, Abdullah Al-Hamdan extended the difference.
Just like it didn’t take long for their players to take the lead, it didn’t take long for Al-Hilal’s social media team to react to the team’s strong start. “We’ve tried to tell the players to take it easy,” the Saudi club wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Al-Hilal mock Lionel Messi with another tweet
Not only did Al-Hilal poked fun at Inter Miami for their early advantage in the match, but their social media team went on to take a direct jab at Messi just a few minutes later. “It’s ok leo .. you’re not the first one,” the post read.
Messi almost tied the game
With Luis Suarez pulling one back for Inter Miami after 34, Messi came close to making things level for the South Florida team just three minutes after the Uruguayan’s first goal with the Herons.
🎥 | #InterMiami player #Messi's goal was disallowed for offside #RiyadhSeasonCup #AlHilal_InterMiami #EKHNews_EN
The former Barcelona duo combined close to Al-Hilal’s box, and the Argentine star capitalized on a mistake by the defense to send the ball in the back of the net. However, it turns out that Suarez was in offside when Messi passed him the ball in the build-up, which is why the goal was disallowed.
see also
Video: Luis Suarez scores first goal for Inter Miami vs. Al-Hilal
After 44, Michael extended Al-Hilal’s lead to make the game 3-1. The Brazilian forward chose to celebrate it in particular style, as he pulled off Cristiano Ronaldo’s iconic “Siuu” celebration with Messi on the field.
