Inter Miami and Palmeiras drew 2-2 in a match from the third-last round in Group "A" of the Club World Cup.
Tadeo Allende (16') and Luis Suarez (65') led the "herons" forward, the Brazilians restored parity with goals from Paulinho (80') and Mauricio (87').
The tie guaranteed participation in the knockout stages for both teams.
At the same time, the teams of Porto and Al Ahly were playing, which had theoretical chances to continue before the start, but they ruled out a draw as a result in either stadium. However, both matches did not produce a winner, which sent the representatives of the USA and Brazil to the next phase of the competition.
The match was especially special for one person. This is Lionel Messi, who turns 38 today, June 24, and celebrated his birthday on the field.
Messi was faced with an interesting situation and it happened - in the first match of the knockout stages, the "herons" will meet the Argentine's former team Paris Saint-Germain.
Javier Mascherano set out for the historic achievement for Inter with not only Messi, but also two of the other world stars from Barcelona's dream team that played in Miami over the past two years. These are Sergio Busquets and Luis Sarres. The fourth former Catalan, Jordi Alba, started on the bench.
Palmeiras tried to take the decisive step towards the eliminations, starting with two of the players who did not miss a minute since the start of the tournament in the United States. These were goalkeeper Weverton and captain Gustavo Gomez. Defender Marcus Rocha played his first minutes in North America, after being a substitute in the draw with Porto and the win against Al Ahly.
Al Ahly and Porto played one of the most spectacular matches in the group stage of the Club World Cup, drawing 4:4.
The Egyptians led four times with goals from Wessam Abu Ali (15', 45';+2', 51') and Mohamed Ali Ben Romdan, while the Portuguese equalized through goals from Rodrigo Mora (23'), William Gomes (50'), Zaydu Sanusi (53') and Pepe Aquino (89').
The drama was complete, as only one more goal at one point, it could have put the "Pharaohs" ahead, but they cracked at the very end, and in the other match, Palmeiras won theirs three minutes before the end of regular time.
Only two of Porto's players in the starting lineup for today's match had not missed a minute so far. These were goalkeeper Claudio Ramos and defender José Pedro. Striker Dani Nimaso recorded his first moments in North America, which turned out to be his last.
The Egyptians' starting lineup also featured two names who had not missed a moment of the tournament. These were goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawi and Mohamed Hani.