Lionel Messi scored his second hattrick in five days for club and country after coming off the bench to help Inter Miami set a new Major League Soccer (MLS) regular season points record in a comeback 6-2 win over New England Revolution on Saturday night.
Inter, playing their final regular season game, entered the fixture two points behind the record 73-point hall set by their opponents. That seemed where they would remain after going 2-0 down before Luiz Suarez’s brace in the 40th and 42nd minutes signalled a fight back.
Following a first-half recovery effort, the introduction of Messi just before the hour mark heralded Inter’s date with destiny.
Messi, playing his first game back following the International break with Argentina last week, which included a hattrick against Bolivia, scored three times in 11 minutes after coming on as a 57th-minute substitute.
His first goal came in the minute 78 following a clever 1-2 link-up with Suarez in midfield before bamboozling his marker and cannoning a powerful left-foot shot into the roof of the net, extending inter’ advantage after a 58th-minute assist to Benjamin Cremaschi’s goal for the lead.
The Argentina Captain doubled his tally three minutes later, slipping between two defenders with an undetected run inside the box to latch on to a spectacular through pass before easily slotting home.
Messi completed his hattrick in the 89th minute with arguably the team goal of the season.
A string of give-and-go passes reminiscent of his days at Barcelona, which saw Suarez collect a looped pass into the area before delivering and over-assist into the path of Messi, who made it six.
The victory saw the David Beckham-owned team clinch a league record and lift the Supporters Shield for topping the Eastern Conference.
