Lionel Messi’s 11-minute hat trick helps Inter Miami break MLS points record | InterMiami

Lionel Messi and Inter Miami had the best regular season in Major League Soccer history.

Messi scored three goals and an assist in the second half alone, Luis Suárez scored two goals in the first half and Inter Miami defeated the New England Revolution 6-2 on Saturday night to finish the season with an MLS record 74 points – one more than the revolution had in 2021.

It was Messi’s first hat-trick for Inter Miami, the team the Argentine superstar joined midway through the 2023 season and gave Major League Soccer a major victory.

Going 22-4-8 in league play, Inter Miami finished the season with a winning percentage of .765, setting another MLS record. There have been four teams – DC United (24-8) and LA Galaxy (24-8) in 1998, LAFC (21-4-9) in 2019 and New England (22-5-7) in 2021 – that achieved an MLS season with a winning percentage of .750, which was the top spot until Saturday evening.

The top spot now lies with Inter Miami in all respects, both in terms of points and top marks in wins, losses and draws. Inter Miami also became the eighth team in MLS history to go through a regular season with just four losses, setting another record.

Messi – who played about 35 minutes but still scored three goals on Saturday – finished the regular season with 20 goals and 16 assists in 19 games.

Suárez scored 20 goals in his first MLS season, his strikes – about three minutes apart – helping Inter Miami overturn an early 2-0 deficit. Luca Langoni and Dylan Borrero had the goals for New England.

The rest of the game was all about Miami. The team had a stage pulled onto the pitch after the game to mark the Supporters’ Shield win the team had won away from home earlier in the month, and fired pink confetti into the air as time expired.

Suárez’s brace brought the hosts to a draw by half-time, and Benja Cremaschi scored the go-ahead goal in the 58th minute. Messi had an assist for Cremaschi’s goal, which came just seconds after the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner came on.

There was some doubt as to whether Messi would even play, especially since Inter Miami had already won the Supporters’ Shield and the No. 1 seed in the MLS Cup playoffs. For Inter Miami on Saturday it was all about the record.

And there was a scare in the 74th minute when Messi was fouled, screaming in pain and grabbing his right ankle on the ground. He missed 15 of Inter Miami’s MLS games in 2024, either due to commitments with the Argentina national team or because of the two-month absence he needed to recover from a serious ankle injury – an injury sustained during the pursuit his country’s bid for the 2024 Copa America title in July.

It was just a horror.

Messi scored about two minutes apart in the second half, turning a 3-2 lead into a 5-2 defeat. It was only a matter of time before the record would belong to Inter Miami. And the decisive goal came in the 89th minute when Suárez played the ball to Messi, completing the hat trick.

Next up for Inter Miami is Game 1 of a best-of-three first-round series at home on Friday evening. It will be the first home playoff game in the club’s history.

Inter Miami receives place in the 2025 Club World Cup

Fifa president Gianni Infantino announced on Saturday evening that Inter Miami would take part in the tournament, which had long been expected given Messi’s enormous popularity around the world and the fact that the tournament had already scheduled some games in South Florida.

The event, which is scheduled to take place every four years, involves 32 teams from FIFA’s six football confederations. Inter Miami will participate in the tournament’s inaugural round, scheduled for June 15, 2025 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

“I am proud to announce that, as one of the best clubs in the world, you are deserving participants in the new FIFA Club World Cup 2025, representing the United States as the host club,” Infantino said at an on-field ceremony Inter Miami broke Major League Soccer’s mark for most points in a regular season.

The tournament runs through July 13, with the final scheduled at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey – also the site of the 2026 World Cup final. So far, the Club World Cup has not attracted major U.S. sponsors and there is no media rights deal.

Other US locations where the Club World Cup will take place include Atlanta, Cincinnati, Nashville, Charlotte, Orlando, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington and Seattle.

Twelve teams from Europe take part in the Club World Cup. These are Atlético Madrid, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Juventus, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto, Real Madrid and Salzburg.

Other qualified teams include Boca Juniors, Flamengo, Fluminense, Palmeiras and River Plate from South America; Leon, Monterrey, Pachuca and the Seattle Sounders from North America; Al Ahly, Esperance, Mamelodi Sundowns and Wydad from Africa; Al-Hilal, Al Ain, Ulsan and Urawa from Asia; and Auckland City from Oceania.

Inter Miami is the 31st team in the field. The final one will be determined on November 30th at the final of the Conmebol Libertadores in Buenos Aires. The tournament draw will take place in December.