Lionel Messi has caused a storm in Major League Soccer – the American professional soccer league (MLS) even before he has played a single match. And every MLS stadium he’ll visit from Dallas to Charlotte could create a commercial boom that even country music star Taylor Swift would envy.
Messi’s arrival created the perfect storm in the Open Leagues Cup (the tournament for North American and Mexican clubs) as he, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba appeared in pink polo, South Florida style and make the struggling Inter Miami the champion of the tournament.
It started with Messi’s debut and the winning goal in the 94th minute of Inter Miami’s group stage opening match against Mexican side Cruz Azul on July 22 and ended with a penalty shootout victory. in the national cup final (US Cup) against Nashville. The MLS team with the fewest points this season lifted the trophy in large part thanks to the new top scorer of 2023 – Messi. The Argentine superstar has scored in every game in the Leagues Cup, a total of 10 goals in 7 games, it makes all the odds in American football “turn the bet”.
And now, on his MLS debut, Messi’s second-half goal helped Inter Miami beat the New York Red Bulls 2-0, taking their first win in 11 games from a draw to a loss. Last month, former player and now DC United coach Wayne Rooney warned that Messi will not find it easy in MLS, we will still have to respect this opinion, but also have to say 11 goals in 9 games with the same team. a trophy is obviously the difference. Even Messi is on his way to breaking MLS milestones at the age of 34 if things continue as they are.
The first is the record “Fastest 10 goals in MLS history”. It didn’t take long for Messi to score his first 10 goals in an Inter Miami shirt. Currently, he has only 1 goal in the MLS. But maybe he will soon score 10 goals. To set the record for the fastest 10 goals in the MLS, Messi will need to get there in nine games, beating Carlos Ruiz and Mamadou Diallo. As for the fastest five-goal scorer, Messi will need to do a bit more as current Inter Miami teammates Josef Martínez and Ruiz both have their first five goals in three league games. That means Messi needs to score a hat-trick in at least the next two matches.
However, Messi did not score a hat-trick with PSG, and the last hat-trick at the club level came more than 3 years ago in a Barca shirt. But remember Messi has had 57 hat-tricks in his career with 48 times at the club, including 36 in La Liga.
Another record is waiting for Messi, which is scoring in many consecutive matches. Currently, Josef Martínez of Atlanta United holds the record of scoring in 15 consecutive MLS matches in the 2019 season. Messi’s best individual scoring streak in all competitions with Barcelona was in the winter of 2012-2013, where he scored 16 goals in 10 consecutive matches. But that same season, Messi scored 21 consecutive goals in La Liga from early November to early May.
However, perhaps the easier record for Messi is scoring the most goals in a season, although it certainly cannot be in this season when half way through MLS. The record for goals in an MLS season is 34, set by Carlos Vela for LAFC in 2019, and the Mexican only needed 31 matches to achieve it. Currently, Messi only has a maximum of 12 MLS matches in 2023.
Since Messi, Inter Miami’s team has risen from 891st place to 372th in Opta’s club power rankings. In just 28 days
Another milestone within Messi’s reach is the number of goals scored from free kicks. Two of Messi’s Leagues Cup goals were free kicks, bringing his total number of goals at club level to 54 in all competitions in Spain, France and now the United States. Messi is a potential master of the MLS dead-ball scenario. The MLS free kick record dates back to 2003, and at that time Sebastian Giovinco led the way with 13 free kick goals for Toronto FC. Recently, this number has been getting worse. Giovinco scored 6 goals from free kicks in the 2017 season, and since David Beckham came to America, only 3 players have scored at least 4 goals from free kicks. Meanwhile, Messi’s most goals from free kicks in Europe are 8 goals in 50 matches in the 2018-19 season in all competitions with Barcelona. Six of them came in La Liga matches.
Finally, is the record of assists, an advantage exclusively for Messi. In 2000, a legend of South American football, Carlos Valderrama, set an MLS record with 26 assists for Tampa Bay. Messi had one assist in seven Leagues Cup matches, but had two assists in the US Open Cup semi-finals. While at PSG, Messi had 16 assists in 32 Ligue 1 matches.
