It was yet another history-making night for Lionel Messi on Wednesday as he scored a double in Inter Miami’s 2-1 win.
The footballing icon found the net twice against New England Revolution and achieved something no player has before.
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Messi became the first-ever player in the MLS to score two goals in four straight league games.
For his first of the night, he latched onto a bouncing ball in the penalty area and neatly tucked into the bottom corner.
Then for his second, which came only 11 minutes later, the Argentinian was slotted through by Sergio Busquets and he made no mistake in finding the net from the edge of the box.
That goal made history for Messi following a double against Montreal in Miami’s previous game.
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He had already scored two against Montreal before competing in the Club World Cup, and also did so against Columbus Crew.
Messi has now netted 14 goals in just 15 MLS games this season.
And manager Javier Mascherano labelled the 38-year-old the sport’s best player in history following his latest unprecedented feat.
“I always say Leo is a special player. For me, the best player that has played this sport in history,” Mascherano said.
“So it’s unbelievable because how he continues doing things that maybe many, many years ago we thought that maybe we couldn’t see at this stage, no?
“But at the end, he’s a special player, we are lucky to have him.”
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This was not the first time Messi has scored two goals in four straight games, as he did so for Barcelona in 2012.
In fact, in the same year that he scored a remarkable 91 goals, he scored more than one in six consecutive fixtures.
But Messi’s new goalscoring record has been added to his number of history-making feats since joining Inter Miami in 2023.
His total of 58 goal contributions is a club record for Miami, while he also has MLS records to his name too.
He has the most assists in a single game with five and has also pulled off the most goal contributions in a single game.
They both came against New York Red Bulls last year, in a campaign that saw Miami win the Supporters’ Shield.
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Messi’s overall season tally of 14 goals this season so far doesn’t see him lead the scoring charts in the MLS though.
He actually sits behind former Nottingham Forest striker Sam Surridge, who has 16 strikes to his name for Nashville.
As for Inter Miami, they currently sit fifth in the MLS table after picking up their fourth straight win.
On either side of their Club World Cup run, which saw them knocked out by Paris Saint-Germain, they’ve won two.
Miami have three games in hand on all four teams above them in the table standings due to their pause for FIFA‘s new competition.
So ahead of their fixture against Nashville this weekend, they sit in a good position to potentially challenge for their first-ever MLS title.