FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Lionel Messi raised the Golden Boot. He then bought Inter Miami began together with his head.

Messi opened the scoring with a diving header within the first half, then capped the scoring within the 96th minute as Inter Miami opened the Main League Soccer playoffs with a 3-1 win over Nashville SC in Sport 1 of their Japanese Convention best-of-three first-round sequence on Friday night time.

Messi and Ian Fray had the assists on Tadeo Allende’s second-half tally for Inter Miami, which now will get two probabilities to advance out of the primary spherical for the primary time in Messi’s 2 1/2-year tenure with the staff. Sport 2 is at Nashville on Nov. 1. Sport 3, if crucial, would in Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 8.

Hany Mukhtar bought Nashville’s purpose off a free kick within the a hundred and first minute. It was the ultimate play of the match.

The win capped an enormous couple of days for Inter Miami, which introduced Messi’s three-year contract extension on Thursday.

“I don’t suppose we ever might have imagined that Leo would have been in a position to ship for this membership, for this metropolis and for this league the best way he has,” mentioned MLS Commissioner Don Garber, who introduced Messi with the Golden Boot — the trophy introduced to the league’s prime purpose scorer — in a pregame ceremony.

“You recognize, he has reset the trajectory for Main League Soccer and we had been already doing fairly effectively,” Garber added. “And I feel having three extra years is simply going to be one other present. Hopefully it’s the present that retains on giving.”

Messi ducked behind a line of defenders for the header that opened the scoring within the nineteenth minute. Allende scored off a header as effectively within the 62nd minute, with Messi beginning that play with a cross to Fray on the precise wing. Fray chipped the ball into the center of the field and Allende made the remaining look simple.

The capper got here in stoppage time, when the ball deflected to an unmarked Messi within the purpose mouth. He tapped it house for a 3-0 lead.

Messi was the league’s MVP final season and is the overwhelming option to win the award once more this 12 months, which might make him solely the second two-time winner in league historical past and the primary to win it in back-to-back years. Preki received the MVP award in 1997 and 2003.

Messi scored 29 targets within the common season, 5 greater than LAFC’s Denis Bouanga and Nashville’s Sam Surridge. He additionally had 19 assists, and his 48 complete purpose contributions was one shy of matching the MLS file of 49 set by Carlos Vela in 2019.

“You need to lean into this distinctive and particular historic second that I do know I’ll look again on and say, ‘Boy, I can’t consider I used to be operating a league that had one of the best participant within the historical past of the sport enjoying in it,'” Garber mentioned. “Generally I discover when issues are taking place … you’re simply shifting on to the subsequent factor. I feel all of us must take a step again and recognize Leo Messi is enjoying in Main League Soccer.”

The brand new contract means Messi might stay with Inter Miami into his early 40s. He’s nonetheless the most important title in soccer; ticket income for MLS set a file this 12 months, Inter Miami’s worth has doubled by some estimates to about $1.2 billion since he arrived and he has led the league in jersey gross sales yearly since his arrival halfway via 2023.

“I feel he’s the unicorn of unicorns,” Garber mentioned. “You recognize, there’s one thing about the best way he’s wired. He is interested by the sport like no one else ever has. His depth and want to win is what makes him the best of all time. There are a whole lot of actually aggressive gamers, however he has this particular sauce, this dynamic that has him so centered on doing what he must do to win video games.”

Garber additionally lauded Inter Miami for the way it made the announcement of Messi’s signing. The staff revealed it on social media with a video of Messi signing his contract, then the digicam pulls out to point out that he is truly sitting the place the sphere will probably be contained in the staff’s new stadium close to Miami Worldwide Airport. The stadium is scheduled to open subsequent 12 months.

“It simply reveals how elegant and good they’re,” Garber mentioned.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer