How Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and co fared in Inter Miami's first 2024 pre-season friendly

The last time all four of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba started alongside one another, they lost 8-2.

Inter Miami's newly formed 'Fab Four' lined up together for Barcelona in August 2020, slumping to a thumping at the hands of Bayern Munich in the eerie setting of a one-legged Champions League quarter-final in an empty Estadio da Luz.

The stands of the Cuscatlan Stadium in San Salvador were packed hours before Inter Miami's first pre-season friendly of the year against the El Salvador national team on Friday night. Muddying the waters of sporting royalty even further than half-and-half scarves, some supporters were kitted out with half-and-half shirts.

Many inside the ground neglected the blue and white of their nation entirely, watching on from the stands after crowding around Miami's team bus in the visitors' pink home strip. There was a worldwide shortage of Messi's official number ten shirt shortly after his Miami debut last year but replicas were available in San Salvador for as little as $5 (£4).

This reunion of footballing talent was considered significant enough for El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele to pose for a photo op alongside Messi, taking his motorcade to the team's hotel ahead of kick off.

Here's what the expectant crowd were treated to in a 0-0 draw.

Suarez and Messi not only enjoyed a telepathic understanding on the pitch but were best friends off the field as well. The pair were neighbours in Catalonia's capital for six years, occasional babysitters for each other's children and their wives went into business together.

However, the three-and-a-half years apart left an understandable coat of rust on the partnership. It was only at the start of December that Suarez revealed the