Lionel Messi has been nothing short of spectacular with Inter Miami since joining the MLS side in the summer of 2023, but could 2025 be his most historic season yet?
While the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner started the season with some inconsistency and failed to lead Miami to the Concacaf Champions Cup, he has rekindled his best play and has broken several records in just 15 MLS games this season.
Since joining in 2023, Messi has gone on to surpass Gonzalo Higuaín as the club’s all-time leader in goalscoring and goal contributions with 54 goals and 25 assists in 65 appearances in all competitions and most recently, he became the first MLS player to score at least twice in four straight games.
All after becoming the first MLS player to score at the FIFA Club World Cup with his free-kick against FC Porto, and already holding league records for most assists in a single game with five and most goal contributions in a single game with six.
But, could more be in the cards for Messi this season? With 14 goals and seven assists in just 15 games, he could be in the running for not only defending his MLS MVP title, but also one of the best single-season goalscoring records in league history.
It won’t be easy though, especially since he is not even leading the MLS Golden Boot race, currently trailing Nashville SC’s Sam Surridge—who he will face on Saturday—by two goals.
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Should Messi want to break the MLS single goalscoring record, he will have to find another 21 goals this season through Miami’s remaining 16 regular-season games, beginning with Saturday’s clash against Nashville.
If it weren’t for a slightly slower start to the season and some managed minutes that saw him miss three games, he could conceivably be a lot closer. However, the average rate of 1.2 goals-per-game needed, should he play every game, seems within reach.
Famed Mexican international and former LAFC forward Carlos Vela is the current all-time single-season record holder, having scored 34 goals in 2019. Second on the list is Josef Martínez, who netted 31 goals for Atlanta United in 2018, while Zlatan Ibrahmović’s 30 goals in 2019 with the LA Galaxy rounds out the top three.
