Messi returns — and scores inside two minutes

He was absent due to injury that ruled him out of Argentina's World Cup qualifiers too

MIAMI:

Lionel Messi returned to action for Inter Miami after his injury layoff and scored just two minutes after entering as a second-half substitute in his team's 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.

Messi had missed Argentina's World Cup qualifiers in South America during the recent international window after picking up an adductor strain in Miami's most recent Major League Soccer game, a 2-1 win at Atlanta on March 16.

Finnish winger Robert Taylor had put Miami ahead in the 23rd minute, slotting home a low pass from Benjamin Cremaschi after Jordi Alba had broken down the left flank.

Messi was brought on by coach Javier Mascherano in the 55th minute and within two minutes was on target. Messi's former Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez picked him out on the right and he jinked to make space and fired a low, right-foot effort into the far corner.

Philadelphia pulled a goal back in the 80th minute when Quinn Sullivan whipped in a cross from the right and Hungarian midfielder Daniel Gazdag brought the ball down before firing home a crisp shot.

Unbeaten Miami are top of the Eastern Conference with four wins from their opening five games of the season.

Inter face a busy spell with a trip to Los Angeles to play LAFC in a CONCACAF Champions Cup quarter-final, first leg on Wednesday. They have a home game against Toronto the following Sunday with the return against LAFC three days later.

Mascherano said it had been a cautious move to start with Messi on the bench.

"We didn't want to risk him from the start because we thought he might be at risk playing the whole game, but we did want him to get some minutes," said the Argentine coach.

"The plan is that he can recover and travel to Los Angeles. He played today because he was fine. Maybe he wasn't ready for the full 90 minutes but it was good for him to play 45 minutes. If nothing unusual happens the plan is for him to travel," he added.

In a seven goal thriller, Atlanta United trailed 3-1 at home to New York City FC after Wolff scored twice for the visitors before an own goal from Keaton Parks brought them back into the game.

But then a header from Miguel Almiron, who returned to the club from Newcastle United during the pre-season transfer window brought Atlanta level with 15 minutes remaining.