Suarez, De Paul lead Inter Miami to Leagues Cup quarterfinal

Fort Lauderdale (USA), Aug 7 (IANS) Inter Miami CF secured a thrilling 3-1 comeback win over Liga MX’s Pumas Unam in the team’s third and final Leagues Cup 2025 phase one fixture to secure a spot in the quarterfinals.

Legendary striker Luis Suarez delivered a standout performance with a goal and two assists, while midfielder Rodrigo De Paul scored his first goal for the Club, and Tadeo Allende also got his name onto the scoresheet.

Unam opened the scoring to take the lead with a goal from Jorge Ruvalcaba in the 34th minute. Inter Miami found the equaliser right before the break, with De Paul bagging his first goal for the Club in the 45th minute.

The World Cup-winning midfielder chested down a delivery from Suárez from the left wing before scoring with a tidy outside-of-the-foot finish to the bottom-right corner. The assist was the first for Suárez in the tournament and 14th overall across all competitions in 2025.

Suarez turned the scoreline around for Inter Miami in the 59th minute with a Panenka finish to convert from the penalty spot. The goal took his tally to 10 in all competitions this season.

Allende rounded out the result for Inter Miami in the 69th, capitalising on a line-splitting ball from Suarez and sending the ball to the back of the net with a right-footed hit from the center of the box. The goal was the 11th for Allende this season.

The assist from Suarez, meanwhile, was a historic one as he equalled the all-time record for most assists for the Club in a single season with 15 (tied with Alba in 2024).

The 3-1 scoreline would hold through the final whistle for Inter Miami to secure a spot in the Leagues Cup 2025 quarterfinals.

--IANS

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