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Lionel Messi scored four goals and assisted another as Inter Miami beat CF Montreal 7-1 at Nu Stadium, the largest winning margin in the club’s history and the first time it has scored seven in a match. It was Messi’s first four-goal game in MLS and takes him to 18 for the season, clear at the top of the Golden Boot race. Casemiro, Luis Suarez and 18-year-old academy product Alexander Shaw also scored as Miami ended a five-game winless run across all competitions.
Miami, United States: For three minutes on Saturday night this was a football match. Then Lionel Messi lined up a free kick, and it stopped being one.
Montreal had equalised in the 37th minute and were level until the 40th. They conceded six after that.
Casemiro, Then a Wobble
Miami had led since the 20th minute, when Telasco Segovia whipped a corner in from the left and Casemiro headed it home from the centre of the box. It was the Brazilian’s first goal for the club, in his sixth league appearance since arriving after the World Cup, and Segovia’s ninth assist of the season, a career best.
Fabian Herbers replied on 37, a low shot from the edge of the area that squeezed into the bottom corner — his first goal of the season and the 21st of his career.
Three minutes later Messi stood over a free kick and curled it low towards the near post. It took a touch on the way through and beat Thomas Gillier. Miami went in 2-1 up and Montreal did not get near them again.
Six Without Reply
Messi’s second, on 52, was the one people will replay. He weaved through a cluster of Montreal defenders inside the area and drilled the finish into the corner.
On 80 he supplied instead, flighting a pass over the top to send Luis Suarez clear on the break; the Uruguayan finished it. On 83, from Rodrigo De Paul’s pass, Messi dinked over the advancing Gillier for his hat-trick. Six minutes later Alexander Shaw, 18 and an academy product playing his third MLS match, rifled in from outside the box for his first goal for the first team.
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There was still the fourth. In the sixth minute of stoppage time Messi took another free kick from the edge of the area and bent it in off the far post.
Four in One Night
It is the first time Messi has scored four in an MLS match, and the eighth time he has managed four or more in his career. The previous occasion was February 2020, for Barcelona against Eibar.
He has 18 goals in 19 league games this season, two clear of FC Dallas’ Petar Musa at the top of the scoring charts, and is the fastest player in MLS history to reach 20 multi-goal regular-season games, needing 72 appearances. He is 39.
Interim coach Guillermo Hoyos said afterwards that there were no words for that kind of football, that so much was happening the words simply fell short, and that Messi is not an ordinary footballer. Casemiro told the broadcaster that this is what it means to have Messi in the side, and that the squad has to enjoy it and keep competing alongside a player still making history.
What It Was Worth
Seven goals is a club record for Inter Miami, as is the six-goal margin. The MLS record for a single match remains eight, set by the LA Galaxy in 1998.
Miami move to 42 points and end a run of five matches without a win in all competitions. Montreal stay on 21, and their new signing Alexis Sanchez spent the last half hour of his outing chasing a game that had already gone.
Miami host Atlanta United at Nu Stadium on Saturday.
Inter Miami 7 (Casemiro 20′, Messi 40′, 52′, 83′, 90+6′, Suarez 80′, Shaw 89′) beat CF Montreal 1 (Herbers 37′)
Half-time: Inter Miami 2-1 CF Montreal · Venue: Nu Stadium, Miami
