ATLANTA, United States (AFP) — A Lionel Messi trademark free-kick earned Inter Miami a shock 2-1 comeback win against Porto in the Club World Cup on Thursday.

The Argentine superstar found the top corner with a second-half set-piece to clinch a surprise victory for the MLS side and give them a strong chance of progressing from Group A.

Inter Miami and Palmeiras have four points each, after the Brazilian side beat Al Ahly 2-0 earlier on — the Egyptians like Porto have one point.

Samu Aghehowa’s early penalty gave the Portuguese side the lead as they had the better of the first half and could have scored more.

However, Telasco Segovia blasted Miami level and then Messi’s free-kick helped them claim a noteworthy scalp, in a match many thought would be straightforward for Porto.

Co-owned by former England international David Beckham, Inter Miami played their first MLS match in 2020 and signed Messi in 2023, raising their profile significantly.

This was the first competitive victory for an MLS side over European opposition, in their second encounter after Chelsea beat Los Angeles FC earlier in the week.

“It’s a huge joy. The whole team made a big effort; we worked really well,” Messi told DAZN.

“It’s a really important win for us and we have to enjoy it…

“You can see that we want to compete, and today we competed against a really good European team… we knew that today we were weaker, but we had our strengths.”

Even with Messi, arguably the face of the tournament, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium was under half-full at kick-off, hamstrung by another 3:00 pm kick-off on a working day as it was for Chelsea’s opener at the venue.

More fans entered throughout the game, keen to get a glimpse of the 37-year-old widely considered to be the game’s greatest ever player, with nearly 32,000 present in the end.

Messi did not disappoint and was the game’s outstanding player, involved heavily from the off.