Lionel Messi marked the end of an historic week by breaking a record previously held by Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Argentine hero netted his second hat-trick in just five days as he helped Inter Miami to a 6-2 win over New England Revolution, which saw them record the highest points tally in MLS history (74).
It took Messi just 45 minutes to net another trebleAFP
And this wasn’t the only piece of history that Messi was part of in the final game of the regular league season.
When the 37-year-old rounded off his 11-minute treble in the 89th minute, he became the club’s all-time leading scorer with 33 goals.
With Messi also leading the goalscoring charts at Barcelona and the Argentina national team, he is now the first player in history to become the top scorer for three different teams.
This means that he has now overtaken his great rival Ronaldo as the outright leader in this category, who boasts the scoring record with two teams, Real Madrid and Portugal.
And Ronaldo may feel slightly hard done by here, with Messi having arguably a slightly easier route into Inter Miami‘s history books.
With the David Beckham-owned franchise only founded in 2018, there has been much less time for any player to build up a significant lead at the top of their goalscoring standings.
The former Barcelona star’s nearest competition is teammate Leonardo Campana, who has netted 32 times in 98 outings since first joining the Herons in January 2022.
In contrast, the all-time record at Ronaldo’s current club Al-Nassr is 189 goals – scored by former striker Majed Abdullah, who was dubbed ‘the Arabian Pele’ and also remains the all-time top goalscorer of the Saudi Arabia national team.
However, few can dispute Messi’s heroics elsewhere.
He comfortably sits top of both Barcelona and Argentina’s scoring charts, with 672 goals altogether for the Catalan giants, and 112 for his national side.
Messi produced a separate three-goal display earlier in the week for ArgentinaGetty
Cristiano Ronaldo requires 54 more goals to become Al-Nassr’s all-time leading goalscorerGetty
He has also wasted no time in bagging his third goalscoring record with his current club, racing to 33 goals in just 36 games.
Messi’s latest achievement is made all the more impressive by the fact that he needed just over 30 minutes to secure his record-breaking hat-trick.
Having entered the field in the 58th-minute with the score at 2-2, the football icon registered his first involvement 60 seconds later, setting up Benjamin Cremaschi to give Inter the lead.
He then took centre stage himself, scoring his first goal on 78-minutes, before further strikes on 81 and 89 minutes.
The treble saw Messi round off a goal-laden week, having also netted a hat-trick with Argentina just five days earlier in a 6-0 win over Bolivia.
His goal haul here also drew him level with Ronaldo who also boasts ten hat-tricks for his country – a record in international football.
Despite his various impressive individual achievements this week, Messi’s next focus will undoubtedly be on securing more silverware at club level.
With Inter finishing top of the Eastern Conference, securing them the Supporters’ Shield, Messi and his teammates are now bidding to lift the MLS Cup with victory in the upcoming play-offs.
Messi will have another chance at major silverware in 2025, too, when Inter Miami will join Chelsea, Man City and Real Madrid in the revamped Club World Cup next summer.
