Griezmann doesn't know how it feels to be Uruguayan: Suarez

Antoine Griezmann ensured Malaga did not spoil Atletico Madrid's moving in party at their new 68,000 Wanda Metropolitano stadium with the only goal in a 1-0 win on Saturday.

The French international, restored to the side after a two-game La Liga ban, swept home Angel Correa's cross on the hour mark to move Atletico up to third in the table.

Atletico remain four points adrift of Barcelona, though, as Paulinho scored his first Barca goal six minutes from time to continue their 100 percent record in a 2-1 win at Getafe.

"I'm delighted to score the first goal in this magnificent stadium and hopefully it is the first of many," Griezmann told Bein Sports Spain.

"For me it is the best stadium I have played in, and I don't just say that because it is my club."

Atletico boss Diego Simeone had called on fans to recreate the intimidating atmosphere of the Vicente Calderon by turning their new home into a "pressure cooker."

The noise matched the pre-match pomp as Spain's royal air force took part in a flyover, whilst the match ball was delivered by paragliders.

"As a player or a coach I have never seen anything like it," said Simeone.

"The memory will live with me for the rest of my life. All the Atletico flags flying, the fans involvement, I wanted to go on and play!"

Spanish king Felipe VI, an Atletico fan, was also in attendance, but after all the pre-match fanfare, there wasn't much for the crowd to get enthused about in the opening 45 minutes.

Correa had Atletico's only two clear chances of the half as he blazed over and straight at Roberto Jimenez.

At the other end Jan Oblak was forced into a fine save from ex-Atletico striker Borja Baston as Malaga broke dangerously.

Atletico started the second period brighter as Roberto denied Koke and Saul Niguez before the deadlock was broken on the hour mark.

Correa burst clear down the right and his low cross was expertly guided inside the near post by Griezmann on his weaker right foot.

Malaga had one late chance to rain on Atletico's parade two minutes from time, but Oblak was again up to the task to turn Diego Rolan's fierce effort over the bar.

Luis Suarez makes his MLS debut next to former Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi on Wednesday night, with his addition stacking expectations even higher for Inter Miami as the 2024 season opens against visiting Real Salt Lake.

Messi already is universally recognized as the greatest player of his generation -- and potentially ever -- after leading Argentina to the 2022 World Cup and winning his eighth Ballon d'Or last year.

The addition of Suarez gives Messi a third former Barca teammate on Miami's squad and a much-needed secondary goal-scoring option. A combination of the timing of his summer debut and injuries meant the majority of Messi's goals came outside of league play in 2023. Leonardo Campana was Miami's top league goal scorer with nine.

Suarez -- who has said this will be his final professional season -- scored 17 goals and added 11 assists in 36 games for Gremio last season in Brazil's top division. And while Messi still is the headliner, his old-turned-new attacking partner also is a reason the Herons are oddsmakers' strong favorites to win the MLS Cup and Supporters' Shield.

"It's clear we haven't won anything yet," Jordi Alba, another Miami and former Barcelona teammate, told MLSsoccer.com. "We want to win every trophy we're playing for. It's going to be very complicated because there are some very well-prepared teams with the same dreams as us, but I think we have a very good team."

They'll begin the season against a Real Salt Lake side that finished fifth in the Western Conference last season and lost their first-round playoff series to a Houston Dynamo side that reached the West final.

The Claret and Cobalt have influential midfielder Pablo Ruiz back after he underwent knee surgery last August. And they'll presumably have a full season with Cristian Arango, the Colombian striker who scored six times in 11 matches following his transfer from Liga MX's Pachuca last summer.

Even so, RSL head coach Pablo Mastroeni is under no illusions about the difficulty of Wednesday's challenge against Messi and company.

"One of the greatest players of all time for a reason," Mastroeni, who was born in Argentina but grew up in Arizona, said of Messi. "It's very tough to game plan around a player that can make a difference at any moment of the game."

Luis Suarez scored the first two goals of his MLS career and provided the final pass on two more, Lionel Messi added two goals, and host Inter Miami romped to a 5-0 victory over Orlando City on Saturday afternoon.

Robert Taylor added the other goal for unbeaten Miami (2-0-1, 7 points) in what was easily its most lopsided result of the young season. Julian Gressel made the final pass on Suarez's two goals, both coming inside the opening 11 minutes.

Drake Callender made two saves to keep his second clean sheet for the Herons, who for the first time offered the kind of dominant performance that matched their status as oddsmakers' MLS Cup favorites.

Pedro Gallese failed to make a save for Orlando (0-1-1, 1 point), which suffered its worst regular-season defeat since a 5-0 loss at New York City FC in late July 2021.

The Lions have now lost two games when Messi plays for the Herons by a seven-goal margin, having fallen 3-1 in the round of 32 of the Leagues Cup back on Aug. 2.

But Orlando had earned a 1-1 draw at home against Miami while Messi was out to injury late last season, and perhaps that contributed to a sense of overconfidence.

And the Herons had been pushed in their first two games, a 2-0 home win over Salt Lake that was within a goal until the 83rd minute and a 1-1 draw at the LA Galaxy that required Messi to score a stoppage-time equalizer.

There was not a similar challenge on Saturday, however. And after struggling to find chances in his first two MLS appearances, Suarez needed only four minutes to register his first goal.

Messi sprayed the ball to Gressel wide on the right wing to start the move, and then Gressel dragged a low cross back across the right corner of the penalty area.

It met Suarez almost behind his run, but he somehow managed to reach his boot back and strike it first time into the top near corner to beat Gallese.

Seven minutes later, Suarez played a stunning give-and-go with Gressel through a handful of Orlando defenders, muscling one off the ball before feeding his teammate and making a vertical run. Gressel got the pass perfect, and Suarez finished in stride to make it 2-0.

Lionel Messi and Inter Miami are ready to push for an MLS Cup title after their pummeling of Orlando City Saturday.

After the conclusion of their match Saturday evening, the Herons' talisman spoke with Apple TV about their ambitions as a club going forward. He revealed that there are long-term ambitions for Inter Miami this season, but in the moment, they need to look at the positives of their results so far.

"I think that with the pressure on us, we're conscious of the team, and what we've built and we are going to prepare ourselves to fight for the MLS title," Messi said during a postgame interview with Apple TV.

"We know that is a long road and it's just getting started, but the reality is that all of us are aware that we have a group ready to compete and we are going to go for it. It is also important that we start the season off well, especially in the first few games because then the league will pause, and other tournaments will begin."

The Argentine added that he is incredibly happy with their progress so far, especially ahead of major tournaments for club and country on the horizon.

"It's really good to arrive with a little breathing room at this checkpoint that we set on ourselves," Messi said. "To start off in this manner and get the most points possible before tournaments like Copa America, Leagues Cup, and everything that is yet to come."

Luis Suarez struck twice as ten-man Inter Miami became the first team to book their place in this season's Major League Soccer playoffs after beating Cincinnati 2-0 at Chase Stadium on Saturday.

Uruguayan veteran Suarez scored just 32 seconds into the game and added a second five minutes later as Miami, without injured superstar Lionel Messi, secured their place in the post-season.

Miami are eight points clear of second-placed Cincinnati in the Eastern Conference.

Messi has not played since he suffered an ankle injury in Argentina's win over Colombia in the final of Copa America on July 14.

But Miami expect Messi will be back before the end of the regular season which concludes on October 19 with the playoffs beginning the following week.

Cincinnati humiliated Miami with a 6-1 victory over Gerardo Martino's team in Ohio on July 6th and the way the game started indicated Inter were determined to avenge that loss.

Yannick Bright fed Marcelo Weigandt down the right and the Argentine found Suarez who brought the ball down before burying it in the net.

With former NFL great Tom Brady watching on in the company of Miami co-owner David Beckham, former Barcelona striker Suarez then doubled the advantage with another clinical finish after a smart one-two with Matias Rojas.

Miami looked in firm control of the game until three minutes before the break, when their Argentine defender Tomas Aviles was sent off for a second yellow card after a reckless, lunging challenge on Kevin Kelsy.

At the break Cincinnati brought on Luciano Acosta, the league's reigning Most Valuable Player, who is returning from an injury absence.

And while the Argentine added a creative edge in the second half, he wasn't able to stop Cincinnati from suffering a fourth straight loss in the league.

Miami kept their shape and discipline as they protected their lead with Italian midfielder Yannick Bright delivering another impressive performance.