July 29 (UPI) -- Soccer fans might have been disappointed to see a field without Cristiano Ronaldo, but Lionel Messi made them forget with an early score at El Clásico Miami.
The Barcelona superstar opened the scoring at the contest just three minutes into the rivalry against Real Madrid.
Sergio Busquets took the ball a few yards from midfield and laid a pass off to Messi with his right foot. Messi received the ball, with his back to a defender. He took a light touch and forced the over-aggressive opposition to go flying by. Messi's attempt for a pass got deflected, but found Busquets' boot again.
Busquets then fired the ball back to No. 10, who somehow managed to roll the ball over his foot toward goal. Messi dribbled into the box and faked out another defender with an inside move to duck in behind. He then squared up to the goal and chipped a beautiful shot over keeper Keylor Naves and into the back of the net for Barcelona's first score.
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The score was Messi's first in four games this season for Barcelona and Argentina. He registered an assist in Barcelona's 2-1 win against Juventus on July 22 in another International Champions Cup match at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
And. Just. Like. That. #ElClasico pic.twitter.com/66GFynQYyE
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) July 30, 2017
Barcelona dominated possession through the first 10 minutes with an 85 percent to 15 percent edge. Messi's team also had a 3-0 edge on shots early on. But Real Madrid evened up the match 2-2 on a Marco Asensio goal at the 36-minute mark. The score stayed deadlocked through the halftime whistle.
