Lionel Messi scored two goals in Inter Miami’s 2-1 victory over Nashville SC on Saturday, extending his record-breaking streak of scoring multiple goals in a Major League Soccer game to five.
Victory marked Miami’s fifth consecutive win too and snapped Nashville’s 15-match unbeaten streak in the league.
Messi opened the scoring in the 17th minute, threading a free kick from just outside the box through a hole in Nashville’s defensive wall and into the corner of the net, past the outstretched fingertips of goalkeeper Joe Willis.
That gave Miami a 1-0 lead until Nashville equalized just after halftime when Hany Mukhtar headed in Andy Nájar’s perfectly-weighted cross.
A little over 10 minutes later, Messi put Miami back in front, capitalizing on a mistake from Willis who simply passed the ball to the Argentinian as he tried to clear it. Although Willis tried to atone for his lapse in concentration, Messi simply dribbled the ball around him and fired in an easy winner.
Not since 2012 when he played for Barcelona has Messi scored more than one goal in five consecutive league games, according to ESPN – though, admittedly, LaLiga is a very different league to the MLS.
“There aren’t very many words. It’s incredible what he continues to do,” Miami head coach Javier Mascherano told reporters afterward, per MLS. “To break great records now every three days… I’ve said it a thousand times today; he is the flag for our team.
“He is the one. He’s the leader. He shows us the way to compete.”
Messi has scored 16 goals so far this season – with 10 of those, as well as five assists – coming in his last five games. Miami, meanwhile, is fifth in the Eastern Conference but with three games in hand on all the teams above them. A win in all three games – while no small feat – would put the team top of the league.
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