In the match between Inter Miami vs Nasville, superstar Lionel Messi shone to give the home team the victory. He also became the fastest player to reach the 830-goal mark in history, 100 more than Cristiano Ronaldo.
After a period of being out of action due to injury, Messi has returned strongly in recent matches. Specifically, in the last 4 games, La Pulga has scored 4 goals against Inter Miami in all competitions.
In the recent match against Nashville for the ninth round of the MLS 2024, Messi continued to leave his mark by contributing a double goal and an assist for Sergio Busquets to score. Inter Miami won 3-1 and remained firm at the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
With this brace, Messi reached the 830-goal mark for his career. He became the fastest person to reach this milestone with just 1,056 appearances. Great rival Cristiano Ronaldo also reached the 830-goal mark, but it took 1,156 matches, or 100 more games.
In total, Messi has 9 goals and 6 assists in all competitions this season with Inter Miami. He contributed to 14 goals after only 9 official matches for the team.
If you count only in MLS, Messi contributed goals in the first six games of the season. He is the first person to do so since Joao Plata in 2016 with Real Salt Lake.
Nasville has become Messi’s favorite opponent since he arrived in the United States. Thus, La Pulga has contributed 7 goals (5 goals and 2 assists) after only 4 encounters with this team.
Messi’s second goal was a penalty and this was the first time La Pulga had scored from the spot at club level in 865 days. Including at international level, the last time he did so was in the 2022 World Cup final 489 days ago.
For comparison, since the beginning of 2023, Messi has only scored once from the penalty spot, while Cristiano Ronaldo has done the same 27 times.