Desperate to get back on track after going winless in six of the past seven games, Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates showed up at a sold-out Subaru Park Saturday determined to beat the first-place Philadelphia Union after an intense week of practice that included a players-only team meeting.

They didn’t get a victory, but they salvaged a 3-3 tie after late-game heroics from Messi and Telasco Segovia. Miami trailed by two goals before Messi scored on a free kick in the 87th minute and Segovia, a late substitute, scored the equalizer in added time.

With the tie, Inter Miami remained in sixth place in the Eastern Conference heading into back-to-back home games against last-place CF Montreal on Wednesday and fifth-place Columbus Crew on Saturday. For the third time in a month, Miami scored three goals and did not come away with a win because of defensive lapses. Inter Miami has conceded 23 goals over the past eight games.

“We showed character, personality,” Miami coach Javier Mascherano said. “It was another difficult start of the game for us because in the beginning we conceded the goal ... but the guys showed they want want to fight to get out of this situation. Also, we are unlucky because their third goal was clearly off-side. We are in a bad trend, but with a lot of spirit to come back to be the team we were at the beginning of the season.”

Later in his postgame comments, Mascherano shared that with the team trailing 2-0 at halftime, he gave players a pep talk in the locker room, urging them to forget about the results and leave everything on the field.

“I told them that we are in a situation that is s---, and the only way to see the sun is to give everything and forget the result,” he said. “The result is my fault, my responsibility and they have to play because football is a game and they need to just play and not think about results. Go forward, attack, create chances. That’s the only way.”

Inter Miami fell behind seven minutes into the game after an unmarked Quinn Sullivan scored for Philadelphia on a corner kick from the left side. Miami has been vulnerable on set pieces all season, a recurring issue that concerns Mascherano.

“We cannot concede every single corner kick and every single throw in and give opponents opportunities to score. ... We need to be more focused in those situations,” Mascherano said.

The Union doubled the lead to 2-0 just before halftime when MLS scoring leader Tai Baribo took advantage of a failed clearance from Miami defender Gonzalo Lujan in the penalty area and scored his 12th goal of the season.

As if that wasn’t bad enough for Miami, midfielder Yannick Bright, who had been playing exceptionally well, went down in the 38th minute with an apparent hamstring injury. Federico Redondo replaced him.

Once again, Inter Miami controlled possession (66% to 34%), but produced only five shots on goal, while Philadelphia had seven. Messi had Inter Miami’s best first-half chance at the 33-minute mark, when he left-footed a shot off an Ian Fray assist, but it was saved in the bottom right corner by Union keeper Andrew Rick.

Miami closed the gap to 2-1 in the 60th minute when Tadeo Allende leaped between two defenders and headed in a perfect arcing cross from Noah Allen. Allende has scored five goals this season.

“We have a player Noah Allen that can play in every position, this kid is unbelievable,” Mascherano said. “At the beginning we started with him at left back, and in the second half, when we needed to attack more, we moved Noah to center back and Jordi [Alba] very, very high as a winger and defending with three.”

Just as it seemed the momentum was shifting in Inter Miami’s favor, Baribo scored again in the 73rd minute to open up a 3-1 lead for the home team as the crowd roared. With Miami desperate for goals, Segovia replaced Fray and Fafa Picault went in for defender Lujan.

And then Messi gave Inter Miami and its fans hope. The Argentine captain made it 3-2 with a perfectly placed free kick to the upper-left corner in the 87th minute.

“This will help us to regain confidence because it’s been a long time since we won,” said Alba. “We wanted to win, but there were only a few minutes remaining and we scored two goals ... so we will take that. We have to get better in those situations where we make mistakes, are disconnected, and we are working on that.”

Mascherano made one change in the starting lineup from last Sunday’s 3-0 home loss to Orlando City. Tomas “Toto” Aviles started at center back instead of Maxi Falcon.

Messi and Luis Suarez remained paired in the attack along with Allende. Bright and Sergio Busquets started in the midfield. A five-man line in back included Fray, Aviles, Lujan, Allen, and Alba, who pushed up and attack from the left flank, as he likes to do. Oscar Ustari started at goalkeeper and made three huge saves in the first half and another pair in the second.

There was pressure on Miami’s defense to improve after giving up 20 goals over the previous seven games. Suarez, who was a finalist for the Golden Boot trophy last year with 20 goals, is in a scoring slump this season. The 38-year-old Uruguayan forward has scored two goals in 11 games. Messi has scored six goals in 11 games.

Philadelphia leads the Supporters Shield race with 30 points.

“We showed we have soul and heart to fight,” Mascherano said. “Obviously, we have to improve a lot of things, but we did what we could to try to win.”

©2025 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.