He’s at it again.
Lionel Messi scored twice and added an assist on Saturday in Inter Miami’s 4-1 away win at New England Revolution, putting himself atop the Golden Boot race and keeping Inter Miami in first-place on the Supporters’ Shield table.
[ MORE: Messi hub — MLS stats, Inter Miami schedule, results ]
Of course it must be noted that Miami have played one more match than the rest of the league, but only seventh-place Philadelphia Union have a better points-per-game mark. Philly’s played three fewer games and are eight points behind Miami’s 21.
Messi scooted behind the New England back line to bury a Robert Taylor assist near post and tie the game at 1 on Saturday, then delivered a quite similar goal to put Miami ahead in the 69th minute off a Sergio Busquets feed.
There would be no assist when Benjamin Cremaschi buried a rebound of a Messi shot to make it 3-1, and Messi completed his business in all four goals by setting up a Suarez goal late in the game.
The Argentine’s eight and ninth goals of this MLS moved him ahead of Real Salt Lake’s Cristian Arango and kept him clear of Christian Benteke after the DC United man had a fine Saturday night himself.
Messi’s fourth assist has him tied with teammate Luis Suarez and the Galaxy’s Joseph Paintsil for fifth on the MLS assist list. Robin Lod and Dante Vanzeir lead the league with six a-piece.
