Inter Miami overcame the absence of Lionel Messi to secure a thrilling 3-2 victory over Chicago Fire on Wednesday, with Luis Suarez scoring twice before academy graduate Preston Plambeck struck a late winner to spoil Robert Lewandowski’s Major League Soccer (MLS) debut.

With both Messi and fellow Argentina international Rodrigo De Paul unavailable after Sunday’s FIFA World Cup final defeat to Spain, veteran striker Suarez captained the Herons and delivered another match-winning performance.

The visitors were also boosted by the long-awaited debut of Robert Lewandowski, who recently joined Chicago Fire from Barcelona following the Catalan club’s La Liga title-winning campaign.

The Polish striker started the match and played 63 minutes, but admitted afterwards that there is still plenty of work to do as he adapts to life in the United States.

“After just two days with my new team, I didn’t expect everything to work perfectly in my first game,” Lewandowski said.

“I also need a bit more time, and I’m sure that next time we’ll play with fewer mistakes than today in defence.

“If we defend better, we can win this match next time.”

The 37-year-old arrived in MLS with one of football’s most remarkable goalscoring records, having netted more than 700 career goals for club and country during spells with Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, and Poland.

Chicago made the dream start after just 18 minutes thanks to an extraordinary own goal from Inter Miami.

Goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo, deputising for Dayne St. Clair, completely missed a routine backpass from defender Ian Fray, allowing the ball to roll untouched into his own net and hand the Fire an early lead.

Miami responded before the break as Luis Suarez calmly converted from the penalty spot to level the scores.

The Uruguayan then completed his brace six minutes into the second half, firing home after an inventive backheel assist from German Berterame gave him space inside the penalty area.

Chicago refused to go away and restored parity in the 67th minute when Puso Dithejane found the back of the net, setting up a tense finish in Florida.

However, with just three minutes remaining, Preston Plambeck became the hero for the home side.

The 20-year-old academy product reacted quickest after Chris Brady parried Suarez’s close-range effort, volleying home the rebound for his first senior goal for Inter Miami and securing all three points.

The victory moves Inter Miami onto 34 points, leaving them second in the MLS Eastern Conference, five points behind leaders Nashville SC.

After the match, head coach Guillermo Hoyos insisted there is no pressure for Messi or Rodrigo De Paul to rush back into action following their international commitments.

“A World Cup is something immense, and there’s physical and mental wear and tear, and they deserve their space,” Hoyos said.

“We’ll be waiting for them whenever they can come back and are in the right condition to be here.”

With Suarez continuing to deliver in Messi’s absence and young talents like Plambeck stepping up, Inter Miami maintained their strong push near the top of the Eastern Conference despite missing two of their biggest stars.