In the match between Inter Miami vs Nasville, superstar Lionel Messi shined brightly to bring victory to the home team. He also became the fastest player to reach the 830 goal mark in history, 100 more than Cristiano Ronaldo.
After a period of not being able to play due to injury, Messi has returned strongly in recent matches. Specifically, in the last 4 matches, La Pulga scored 4 goals for Inter Miami in all competitions.
In the recent match against Nasville in round 9 of MLS 2024, Messi continued to make his mark by contributing a double goal and an assist for Sergio Busquets to score. Inter Miami won 3-1 and continued to stay firmly at the top of the Eastern rankings.
With this double, Messi reached the mark of 830 goals in his career. He became the fastest person to reach this milestone with only 1,056 matches. Great rival Cristiano Ronaldo also reached the 830 goal mark but it took 1,156 matches, or 100 more matches.
In total, Messi has 9 goals and 6 assists in all competitions this season for Inter Miami. He contributed to 14 goals after only 9 official matches of the team.
If counted in MLS alone, Messi contributed to goals in all of the first 6 matches of the season. He is the first person to do this since Joao Plata in 2016 with Real Salt Lake.
Nasville has become Messi’s favorite opponent since coming to America. Accordingly, La Pulga has contributed to 7 goals (5 goals and 2 assists) after only 4 confrontations with this team.
Messi’s second goal was scored from the penalty spot and this was the first time La Pulga scored from a penalty at the club level in 865 days. Including the national team level, the last time he did this was in the 2022 World Cup final 489 days ago.
For comparison, since the beginning of 2023, Messi has only scored once from a penalty, while Cristiano Ronaldo has done the same 27 times.