Messi scores 2, makes MLS history in Miami win

Lionel Messi added another record to his list of career achievements as he scored a pair of goals to lead Inter Miami CF to a 2-1 win over the New England Revolution.

The brace at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Wednesday night made Messi the first player in MLS history to score multiple goals in four straight league games, all of which were wins.

The 38-year-old Argentine star capitalized on a mistake by the Revs' defense for his first goal of the night, then doubled Miami's lead before halftime with a brilliant finish from a perfectly placed Sergio Busquets through ball.

"Obviously Leo is a special player. For me is the best player that has played this sport in history," said Miami coach Javier Mascherano after the game. "So it's unbelievable because how he continues doing things that maybe many, many years ago we thought that maybe we couldn't see at this stage, no?

"But in the end, he's a special player. We are lucky to have him."

It was the second win in as many games for Messi and Miami since losing to Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16 at the Club World Cup on June 29.

Messi scored twice in Saturday's 4-1 win over Montreal, and his two goals Wednesday helped Miami continue to climb back up the table in MLS' Eastern Conference.

With the amount of games that Messi has been playing this season in both MLS and for Argentina, there was talk ahead of the game against the game with the Revs that Mascherano might not play his star on Wednesday, or would take him off early in the game.

Mascherano said that plan went out the window with how the game played out.

"Yeah, we wanted to give them some rest, maybe in this game. But after New England scored the goal, we were under pressure, so we preferred to keep him on the pitch," the Miami coach said. "We had to make some decisions. It's not the best situation for us because we know that maybe in the next games, we have to find the moment to give him some rest. It's like this. Now we have a lot of games coming because of our participation in the Club World Cup.

"But we will try to analyze when is the best moment to give him some rest."

Miami is in fifth place, seven points behind leaders FC Cincinnati, but also has three games in hand after missing out on league games while participating in the Concacaf Champions Cup at the start of the season and the Club World Cup in June.

It's not the first time Messi has gone on such a run. In 2012, he had multigoal games in six straight matches while playing for Barcelona. The two goals tonight moved him up to second place on the MLS scoring charts this season at 14, two behind Nashville's Sam Surridge.

The World Cup winner also has seven assists in the 15 MLS games he has played in this season.

Messi has especially feasted against the Revs, scoring seven times against them -- the most goals he has versus any team -- since moving to MLS in the summer of 2023.

Javier Mascherano's side is back in action on Saturday against Nashville SC at its Chase Stadium home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

ESPN writer Lizzy Becherano contributed to this story.