Messi’s another sparkling game in MLS
Past night, Lionel Messi delivered another amazing performance in the MLS match against Montreal (7–1). Let’s take a closer look at his exploits.
4 goals scored
Messi achieved his first ever poker for Inter Miami.
His previous poker at club level came back on 22 February 2020 for Barcelona against Eibar (5-0) in La Liga.
His previous poker overall came on 5 June 2022 for Argentina in a friendly vs Estonia (5-0) when he scored even 5 goals.
It’s the 9th time in his career he has scored 4+ goals in a single match.
In the XXI century, only Cristiano Ronaldo has more such matches (11). Luis Suárez, his current team-mate, has the same number – 9. (We are not considering here Ali Ashfaq and his 20 pokers, because the vast majority of them were scored in Maldivian domestic competitions—a league that does not rank among the world’s top 100).
5 goal contributions
Apart from his four-goal haul, the Argentine provided one assist (just for Luis Suárez).
This is the second match of his MLS career with five goal involvements.
Overall, Messi has now had 10 such matches in his career (see the list below).
G – goals, P – passes for goal, SD – shot deflections (by crossbar in the 29 April 2012 game, by keeper in the 19 September 2017 game; in both cases, Messi’s team-mates sent into net the ball rebounded after his shots).
2 direct free-kick goal
For the 4th time in his career, Messi scored two free-kick goals in a game, following 3 cases with Barcelona:
11/08/2015: vs Sevilla (5-4) in UEFA Super Cup
08/12/2018: vs Espanyol (4-0) in La Liga
09/11/2019: vs Celta (4-1) in La Liga
The number of direct free-kick goals in Messi’s career has reached 74. He is rapidly closing in on the world record.
Only two players in history have scored more such goals in top-level matches: Marcelinho Carioca (78) and Jair da Rosa Pinto (77).
| MESSI | MOST GOAL | CONTRIBUTIONS IN | A GAME | |||||
| Date | Team | Game | Comp. | GC | G | P | DS | |
| 1 | 20/11/2010 | Barcelona | Almería 8-0 | NL | 5 | 3 | 2 | |
| 2 | 17/09/2011 | Barcelona | Osasuna 8-0 | NL | 5 | 3 | 2 | |
| 3 | 07/03/2012 | Barcelona | Bayer Leverkusen 7-1 | CL | 5 | 5 | ||
| 4 | 29/04/2012 | Barcelona | Rayo Vallecano 7-0 | NL | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 5 | 19/09/2017 | Barcelona | Eibar 6-1 | NL | 5 | 4 | 1 | |
| 6 | 16/12/2018 | Barcelona | Levante 5-0 | NL | 5 | 3 | 2 | |
| 7 | 05/06/2022 | Argentina | Estonia 5-0 | NTF | 5 | 5 | ||
| 8 | 05/05/2024 | Inter Miami | New York Red Bulls 6-2 | NL | 6 | 1 | 5 | |
| 9 | 16/10/2024 | Argentina | Bolivia 6-0 | WCQ | 5 | 3 | 2 | |
| 10 | 30/08/2026 | Inter Miami | Montreal 7-1 | NL | 5 | 4 | 1 |