Lionel Messi scored four as Inter Miami beat CF Montreal 7-1 at Nu Stadium. He is 39 years old.
Montreal had been level at the break. Florian Herbers pulled one back for the visitors in the 37th minute after Casemiro opened the scoring and Luca Petrasso turned into his own net. Half time: 2-1. Then Messi took over.
The second half
His first arrived on 52 minutes. Three more followed, the last of them deep into stoppage time, and he walked off with four. Luis Suarez scored on 80 minutes from a Messi assist. Alex Shaw made it seven a minute from time.
Rodrigo De Paul and Tadeo Segovia both picked up assists. The final margin flattered nobody except possibly Montreal, who had spells in the first half where they looked capable of taking something.
What this run says about Messi in MLS
Three seasons into his time in Florida, the numbers have not dropped the way people expected. He is not covering the ground he did at Barcelona, and nobody pretends otherwise. What he still has is the half second of thinking time that MLS defences cannot take away from him.
Miami's structure now protects that. Casemiro screens, De Paul carries, Suarez occupies centre-backs, and Messi picks the moment. It worked against Montreal, and it has worked most weeks.
Where Inter Miami stand
- Seven goals in a single MLS regular season fixture
- Messi with four, plus goals from Suarez, Casemiro and Shaw and a Montreal own goal
- Played at Nu Stadium, Miami's home
- Montreal's only reply came through Herbers, assisted by Nathan Streit
The awkward question
Results like this feed the old argument about the standard of the league. Fair enough. A 7-1 scoreline against a struggling Montreal side is not evidence that MLS has closed the gap on Europe.
But the more useful point is what Miami are building around him. Casemiro scoring the opener and De Paul creating a goal is the sort of thing that keeps a team competitive on nights when Messi has an ordinary game. Those nights are coming, eventually.
Next up
Miami return to league action after the international window. Messi is expected to be involved with Argentina during the break, which will cost him training time but has never seemed to bother him much.
For one Saturday night in Florida, none of the caveats mattered. Four goals, seven for the team, and a stadium that got exactly what it paid for.
Sources: BBC Sport, Goal.com
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