In the final round of MLS on October 20, Messi came off the bench to replace Julian Gressel in the 57th minute, but made a huge contribution to Inter Miami’s spectacular comeback to defeat New England Revolution with a score of 6-2. The 37-year-old Argentinean contributed 1 assist and scored a hat-trick in just 11 minutes (78, 81 and 89). In this match, Messi’s close friend Suarez also scored a double.
The performance was so excellent that Messi was once again voted the best player of the round by the MLS organizers and was named in the typical lineup. Sofascore gave Messi 9.7 points, after giving him the maximum score of 10 points in the match where Argentina beat Bolivia 6-0 in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers on October 16 (also scoring a hat-trick).
In total, in the 2024 MLS season (round robin), Messi has been voted Player of the Round 6 times, setting a record in the history of the tournament. He equals this record with previous players such as Carlos Vela (2019) and Jason Kreis (1999), but with much fewer matches. Messi has been absent from Inter Miami for nearly 3 months due to Copa America and injury.
He has only played 19 MLS games this season, including 15 starts, but has scored 20 goals and provided 10 assists.
Together with Suarez (who also scored 20 goals and had 9 assists), Inter Miami became the first team in MLS history to have 2 players score 20 goals in a season.
However, Messi and Suarez missed out on the MLS Golden Boot, as DC United striker Christian Benteke won with 23 goals. But other major honors, including Player of the Season, are unlikely to escape Messi. Likewise, Suarez is also tipped to win the MLS Debut Player of the Year award.
Besides Messi and Suarez, the other two Inter Miami stars, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, also had an impressive season. Alba scored 4 goals and had 14 assists, while Busquets scored 1 goal and had 4 assists. These stars are considered by the American press as the “super quartet” of Inter Miami, as they contributed 57% of the team’s goals in the 2024 season.
After winning the Supporters’ Shield and qualifying for the 2025 Club World Cup, Messi and his teammates only have 1 day off before returning to training to prepare for the first round of the MLS Cup play-off against CF Montreal or Atlanta United on October 26.
