Inter Miami: Lionel Messi named Player of the Matchday | OneFootball

By Cal Meachem

Player of the Matchday 8: Lionel Messi

As he so often does, Lionel Messi played the key role in Inter Miami CF's dramatic Matchday 8 win to earn MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob ULTRA honors.

Messi netted a brace, including the game-winning goal in the 79th minute, to propel Miami to a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rapids in front of a record crowd of 75,824 at Empower Field at Mile High, the second-highest single-game attendance in MLS history.

The two-time Landon Donovan MLS MVP winner has seven goals in seven games, which is tied for second in the MLS Golden Boot race presented by Audi this season.

With his brace, the legendary Argentine No. 10 has 18 multi-goal games in his first 60 appearances and 28 games with at least two goal contributions. 

Since the start of 2024, Messi has 91 goal contributions (56g/35a), tied for the third-most in a three-season span in league history (Denis Bouanga from 2023-25), and is two behind the record held by Luciano Acosta (93 from 2022-24).

This marks the 14th time in his career that Messi has been named MLS Player of the Matchday, and it is his second award this season after earning the honor on Matchday 2.

Messi is now tied with Jeff Cunningham (14) for the second-most Player of the Matchday awards in MLS history, behind only Landon Donovan (19).

Inter Miami return to action with two matches this week – the first on Wednesday at Real Salt Lake (9:30 pm ET, Apple TV) before returning home to Nu Stadium to face the New England Revolution on Saturday (7:30 pm ET, Apple TV).

The MLS Player of the Matchday is selected each matchday of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while an Instagram fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio, and online media.