Lionel Messi scores twice against Dallas: how many goals for Inter Miami?

Inter Miami secured passage to the Leagues Cup quarter-final with a penalty shoot-out win over FC Dallas on Sunday evening.

Once again, Gerardo Martino’s Miami side were inspired to victory by a show-stealing performance from Lionel Messi. The Argentine scored twice and created another goal in the 4-4 draw, and coolly slotted away his penalty in the shootout.

Messi was followed to Miami by former Barcelona teammates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, and joined a team that already featured former MLS Most Valuable Player Josef Martinez. Yet it is Messi who has been at the heart of Inter Miami’s recent turn in fortunes.

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We take a look at the Argentine’s impact since joining Miami...

Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami stats

Messi made his Inter Miami debut in the team’s Leagues Cup fixture against Mexican giants Cruz Azul on 21 July. Having not had time to build up to full match fitness he entered as a second half substitute but still scored the decisive goal with an injury time free kick.

Since that first outing Messi has started the following three games, captaining the side in all three. In each of those games Messi has scored twice, taking his tally to seven goals in four matches.

However Messi has only played the full 90 minutes in two of those four games, meaning that his minutes-per-goal figure is even more impressive.

Messi’s seven goals have come in just 294 minutes; one goal every 42 minutes. For context, MLS leading goalscorer Henry Mukhtar’s 13 league strikes have come at a rate of one goal every 152 minutes.

Inter Miami record since Messi joined

Messi’s incredible personal record will continue to make headlines, but for fans of Inter Miami it is the Argentine’s impact on the team that will be the main focus. In that regard, too, Messi has been a huge success in the early weeks of his career in Miami.

When Messi arrived, Inter Miami had not won any of their previous11 MLS fixtures. Since Messi’s introduction the team have been victorious in all four of their Leagues Cup fixtures, albeit needing a penalty shootout to progress past Dallas on Sunday night.

The clearest example of Messi’s impact on the team’s form has been in the goal-scoring numbers, which have soared since the Argentine’s arrival. Miami have one of the worst offensive records in MLS with 22 goals in their 22 league fixtures in 2023.

However in the four games with Messi they have scored a total of 13 goals, more than three goals per game on average. After two Messi goals, one of them an inch-perfect free kick, eased Miami past Dallas on Sunday evening head coach Martino reiterated his importance to the team.

“We have the best player in the world. That can’t be ignored. When we have our moments, the team is lethal,” he said.

“This question always gets asked in the places where he is. Someone can bet on what Barcelona would’ve looked like without Messi, what the Argentina national team would look like without Messi or anywhere he’s been,” Martino continued.

“Fortunately, we have him, and today he once again showed he’s a tremendously important player.”