Lionel Messi scripts history in MLS after Atlanta United win; Inter Miami star becomes first footballer to produce…

Lionel Messi became the first player in the history of Major League Soccer (MLS) to produce nine multi-goal games in a single regular season, after the Inter Miami star scored a brace in their 4-0 win over Atlanta United on Sunday at the Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Notably, Messi sat out of Argentina's friendly with Venezuela a night earlier in Miami.

With this win, Inter Miami guaranteed themselves at least a No.3 seed in the Eastern Conference. They still can go a spot up, it Inter Miami can finish above FC Cincinnati. Both Inter Miami and FC Cincinnati are on 62 points each. If they finish on equal points, FC Cincinnati will take the higher seed by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The Messi magic started on 39 minutes when the Argentinean controlled a crossing pass from Baltasar Rodriguez to curl the ball to the top far corner. His second goal came in the 87th minute, after an assist from Jordi Alba, who was playing his final home game of the season for Inter Miami.

With this two goals, Messi's took his tally to 26 goals in the season to lead the race for Golden Boot. Messi also had a role to play in Inter Miami's second goal when the 38-year-old looped a long ball across the field to Alba, who did the rest on 52 minutes by lobbing the ball over Atlanta United's 21-year-old goalkeeper Jayden Hibbert.

Messi's former Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez added to the tally in the 61st minute.