A piece of genius by Lionel Messi in the 54th minute has seen Inter Miami almost through to the knockout stages on Thursday night when they got one over Porto in the group stages of the ongoing Club World Cup in the USA.

Porto had shot ahead in the 8th minute of the crunch tie through the irrepressible Spanish Nigerian striker Aghehowa from the penalty spot. Still, after a catalogue of misses in the first half, Sergio Ramon being the culprit, Sergovia pulled one back immediately after the break before Porto gave away a free kick in a vital position just at the edge of the penalty box.

A multiple Ballon d'Or winner was on hand, and he made no mistake converting it into what eventually turned out to be the winner for Inter Miami.

Arguably, the most exciting match so far in the tournament. Inter Miami's first match had ended in a draw, and it would have been an uphill task for them to qualify for the knockout round without a win against a European side, which is arguably the strongest in their group.

They had to dig deep to win it against Porto, thereby jumping to the top of the table ahead of their last game against Palmeiras at 2:00 on Tuesday morning.

They had opened their campaign against Al Ahly on Sunday with a goalless draw, and Ahly was able to stop Messi from scoring.

 The story was going to repeat itself tonight, but for the individual brilliance, and it marked Messi's only goal so far in the tournament.