Messi sets up both goals as Inter Miami kicks off season with 2-0 win over Real Salt Lake

Gomez, the standout player for the Paraguayan national team in the recent pre-Olympic qualifiers, shined in his pink jersey, as well.

“The opportunity to play was really important for me and I came in very focused and Tata has shown confidence in me since I arrived,” Gomez said. “We came in with a different mentality tonight. I’m really happy to be here playing with such great players and interact with them and enjoy the experience of being with them.”

Martino said he expects Gomez to play a key role all season.

As for his assessment of the game, Martino said: “The first half we played well, especially promising we did not suffer defensively. I thought we could have scored one more goal in the first half. The second half we did not start well, we lost a lot of balls in transition, whereas in the first half they had a hard time taking the ball from us. That got them back into the game, and they could have and probably should have tied the game in the first 25 minutes of the second half. But once we got the second goal the game changed.”

Martino went with a starting lineup of Messi, Suarez, Taylor, Gomez, Busquets, Julian Gressel, Alba, Sergiy Kryvtsov, Tomas Aviles, DeAndre Yedlin and Drake Callender.

Noah Allen, Jean Mota and David Ruiz entered the game in the 77th minute, replacing Aviles, Gressel and Taylor. Busquets came out in the 84th minute with ankle discomfort, but Martino said he doesn’t think it is serious and they took him out as a precaution. Campana replaced Suarez in the 90th minute.

Watching it all from a suite were MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Apple TV vice president Eddy Cue, who were eager to see what Messi would do for an encore after his league-changing debut season.

“It’s another year for him and his family to get acclimated here in South Florida, to get connected to his teammates, I understand he is very comfortable here, the team is very supportive of him, we couldn’t be more excited,” Garber said. “We should not forget that the best player in the history of the game is in Major League Soccer and everything that brings us.”

The commissioner added that “There’s more buzz about Major League Soccer globally than there even is domestically.”

Cue said he was “shocked” with how quickly Messi had an impact on MLS and the perception of soccer in this country.

“I knew he would make a difference, but I thought it would take some time,” Cue said. “He moved the needle really fast on a global perspective and U.S. perspective. I did not appreciate the power and reach he had. If I were writing a script for a movie, I couldn’t write it any better than we he does. It’s amazing to see.”

The team heads cross country to California for a Sunday match against the Los Angeles Galaxy. Martino said he expects to use a similar starting lineup Sunday. He added that center back Nico Freire, who did not play Wednesday as he recovered from a nagging knee injury, will travel. Tickets for that game are the hottest-selling of the season so far on StubHub, with re-sale prices ranging from $250 to $7,820.