Leo Messi named MLS Player of the Matchday after four-goal show | OneFootball

According to Inter Miami, Leo Messi has been named MLS Player of the Matchday for Matchday 23. He produced four goals and an assist in a 7-1 win at CF Montréal, the biggest victory in the club’s history.

Messi struck late in the first half to give Miami the lead. He then opened the second half with a solo effort on 52 minutes.

He set up Luis Suárez on 80 minutes, chipped in for his hat-trick on 83, then curled in a free-kick in the sixth minute of stoppage time.

The Argentine now has 18 goals in 19 regular-season appearances to lead the Golden Boot race, along with 10 assists. This was his first four-goal game in an MLS regular-season match, making him the 19th different player in league history to do so.

He accounts for one quarter of MLS regular-season matches with at least five goal contributions, having done so three times. With another multi-goal outing, he became the fastest to reach 20 such games, hitting the mark in 72 regular-season matches.

It is his third Player of the Matchday of 2026 after Matchdays 2 and 8, and the 15th of his career, moving him past Jeff Cunningham on 14 for second-most, behind Landon Donovan on 19. The award is decided each matchday by MLS Communications via a NASR media panel worth 75 percent and an Instagram fan vote for the remaining 25 percent.

Source: Inter Miami

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”