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A typical match doesn't feature a celebrated singer like Marc Anthony performing the Star Spangled Banner, or David Beckham officiating a ribbon-cutting ceremony before the opening whistle. For Inter Miami, however, Saturday was anything but typical.
Taking the field at Nu Stadium for the very first time before a passionate crowd, the Herons inaugurated their new home with a 2–2 stalemate against Austin FC. Despite flashes of quality, they appeared rattled by the magnitude of the occasion early on, a stark contrast to the focused performance manager Javier Mascherano had envisioned.
Marc Anthony canta el Himno Nacional de EE.UU. en la inauguración del Nu Stadium, nuevo estadio de @InterMiamiCF. pic.twitter.com/MdbE1nyvtl
With Messi and his Herons teammates flashing wide smiles in the players' tunnel before stepping onto Nu Stadium's pitch for the first time, it signaled the dawn of a new chapter for the club. They will no longer call the temporary covered structure in Fort Lauderdale home, a venue they had used since 2020; instead, they begin establishing their identity in Miami itself.
The capacity crowd of 26,700 generated an electric atmosphere from the opening whistle. Nevertheless, it wasn't enough to inspire Miami to claim the stadium's historic first goal, with that distinction going to Austin FC's Guilherme Biro, who glanced a curling corner kick past Dayne St. Clair after being left completely free inside the box in the sixth minute.
That turn of events didn't sit well with Miami—particularly for a side that has built its identity around Lionel Messi's brilliance ever since the Argentine arrived at the club in the summer of 2023.
Barely four minutes after falling behind, Messi found the net at the conclusion of a stunning 15-pass sequence for the Herons, involving nearly every player from St. Clair onward before culminating in Messi's headed finish, securing the first Inter Miami goal at the new stadium.
It was ALWAYS going to be him. 💥
Leo Messi scores Miami's first goal at Nu Stadium and pulls the hosts level! pic.twitter.com/p1mDk5NQk2
The end-to-end nature of the contest left both sides unsatisfied at the break. However, it was Austin who emerged with greater purpose after halftime, with summer winger acquisition Jayden Nelson bursting through on the counter before slotting past his Canadian international teammate St. Clair to hand Los Verdes a 2–1 advantage in the 53rd minute.
Luis Suárez, however, entering from the bench in his reduced capacity for Miami this campaign, restored parity for the Herons with a clinical poacher's finish at the back post, converting with a single touch after Germán Berterame flicked on an inswinging corner kick.
While Miami dominated the ball for large stretches, Austin thrived on the break and comfortably soaked up pressure, drawing visible frustration from Miami's players, even as Messi rattled the woodwork twice from free kicks and Maxi Falcón headed wide at the back post deep into second-half stoppage time.
Is Luis Suárez the Goalscoring Answer?
For a team boasting a Messi-led attack, struggling to find goals is a puzzling predicament. Yet that is precisely the challenge Miami has encountered at points during the early stages of the 2026 season, and what contributed to their round-of-16 exit in the Concacaf Champions Cup.
And after investing over $15 million to secure a proven goalscorer in Berterame from CF Monterrey, the solution may have been right there all along—for better or worse, it remains Suárez.
Despite his labored movement and diminished athleticism in the latter stages of his career, Suárez notched his second MLS goal of the season with the 2–2 equalizer, bringing his tally to two goals in just 128 minutes across four outings in 2026.
That return, set against Berterame's record of eight appearances without a goal, will present Mascherano with a difficult call. Could the 39-year-old Uruguayan icon still be the answer up front, even in 2026? The early signs have been encouraging.
With the fanfare of their Nu Stadium opener now behind them, Messi, Suárez and Inter Miami turn their attention to their seventh MLS fixture next Saturday, as they host Michael Bradley's resurgent Red Bull New York in the second match at their new home.