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When the ball found the net from a free kick, the commentator seemed lost for words. “Extraordinary…” he managed before pausing. “I can’t find any words… He is not human; he is from another planet.” Even without watching the match, it is not difficult to guess whom he was talking about. The “extraterrestrial” comparison is routinely reserved for just one player in world football.
Lionel Messi has nothing left to prove. He simply reminded everyone that, even at 39, he can effortlessly score four goals in a single match.
On a dazzling night for their captain, Inter Miami put on a goal-scoring masterclass, thrashing CF Montréal 7-1 in a Major League Soccer match.
It was Miami’s first win since July 25 and their first victory in five matches across all competitions.
Messi has now scored four or more goals in a match nine times in his professional career. With 18 goals this season, the Argentine superstar has also moved to the top of the MLS scoring chart.
Two of Messi’s four goals came from free kicks, while another was a magical individual effort. He also provided an assist.
Miami’s other three goals were scored by Casemiro, Luis Suárez and Alexander Shaw.
After a relatively slow start at home, Miami gradually took control of the match. Messi came close to opening the scoring in the ninth minute when his low shot from outside the box beat the goalkeeper but struck the post.
In the 19th minute, Telasco Segovia’s header from a corner hit the post. The rebound fell to Germán Berterame, whose volley deflected off a defender and went out for another corner. From the ensuing corner, Casemiro rose above the crowd to head the ball into the net.
Montréal equalised in the 37th minute. Fabián Herbers’ low shot from outside the box appeared relatively harmless, but a sliding Miami defender got a slight touch on the ball, wrong-footing the goalkeeper and sending it into the net.
Miami regained the lead just three minutes later. They won a free kick, and Messi sent a low-powered effort toward the goal. The ball took a slight deflection off a Montréal player before hitting the goalkeeper and going in. Although there was initially some uncertainty over whether it would be credited as an own goal or to Messi, the goal was ultimately awarded to the Miami captain.
Messi narrowly missed from outside the box in the 44th minute, while in stoppage time he produced an extraordinary pass that put Noah Allen through, but the defender failed to beat the goalkeeper.
The teams went into halftime with little separating them, but the second half was completely one-sided as Messi and Miami ran riot.
Messi’s second goal came in the 52nd minute and was a piece of individual brilliance. Receiving the ball just outside the box, he beat one defender and attempted to pass, only for the ball to deflect back to him off a Montréal player. He then drove into the box, surrounded by three defenders.
Messi weaved past two of them, somehow regained control after almost losing the ball, and then beat another defender. The Montréal defence could only watch helplessly as he calmly rounded off the move by sending the ball past the goalkeeper and into the far corner.
Montréal missed two chances in quick succession in the 59th minute.
Suárez saw an effort saved by the Montréal goalkeeper in the 76th minute, but the veteran Uruguayan soon got his goal. In the 80th minute, Messi produced a brilliant lob from near the halfway line during a counterattack. Suárez beat the advancing defenders to the ball, raced forward and finished past the goalkeeper.
Messi completed his hat-trick in the 83rd minute. He latched onto a through ball, raced into the box and calmly chipped the advancing goalkeeper to find the net.
Miami’s sixth goal came from substitute Shaw in the 89th minute. The 18-year-old midfielder fired a low shot from outside the box through a gap in Montréal’s defensive wall, leaving the goalkeeper unable to stop it.
In the third minute of stoppage time, Messi saw another effort from outside the box saved. A few minutes later, however, the goalkeeper had no answer. Miami won a free kick just outside the box, centrally positioned, and Messi curled his left-footed effort beyond the goalkeeper’s reach with a brilliant strike.
With 42 goals from 22 matches, Inter Miami are second in the Eastern Conference standings. Nashville SC lead the table with 10 more points from the same number of matches.
