While the season may not have ended as Lionel Messi would have wanted it’s fair to say he was still a shining light in the MLS.
Inter Miami were knocked out in the first play-off round against Atlanta United and Messi was left frustrated by the result.
The Argentine is yet to sign a new contract with the club, this is despite clear desperation from the club’s hierarchy to get a deal done.
On a personal level, it was another strong year for Messi who scored 20 goals and made 16 assists in just 15 MLS regular season starts.
These eye-catching stats helped Messi to win the 2024 MLS MVP award, a decision that former US international Alexi Lalas supported.
Messi’s latest MVP win helped him extend his lead at the top of a rarely mentioned list.
Messi boasts all-time lead for MVP wins
Messi has won almost everything possible in football, and he’s had to make a fair share of space for MVP awards in his trophy cabinet.
The Argentinian has played 20 seasons with first-teams in his career and has won an MVP award in 12 of those, that’s some record.
Messi’s MVP wins:
- 9 x La Liga
- 1 x Ligue 1
- 1 x MLS
Only his biggest football rival Cristiano Ronaldo comes close to Messi’s numbers with seven. Former MLS star Zlatan Ibrahimovic then has four and Robert Lewandowski has three.
After securing his MLS MVP win Messi said: “I would have liked to have received this award in another situation, being able to play the final next Saturday. But that is also what football is about, overcoming yourself every day. We had a big dream of being MLS champions this year. It didn’t happen, but next year we’ll come back stronger to try again.”
As you can imagine the most MVP wins by a single football player isn’t the only record that Messi holds.
Other records held by Messi
While Messi’s influence on the MLS has been praised by manager Javier Mascherano, he has been performing at the highest level in Europe’s top leagues for much of his career.
Former teammate Kylian Mbappe praised Messi for the influence he had on him, many other players have also spoken about Messi’s impact.
With the amount of records Messi holds it is no surprise that many want to learn from him.
Messi’s records:
- Ballon d’Or wins (8)
- European Golden Shoes (6)
- Most goals with a single club (672)
- Most goals (474), hat-tricks (36) and assists (192) in La Liga
- Most goals in a calendar year (91)
- Most Champions League group stage goals (80)
- Most matches played (39), assists (18) and goal contributions (34) in the Copa America
- Most matches played (26) and goal contributions (21) in the World Cup
- Most international appearances (191) and international goals (112) by a South American male
Messi is still going strong at the age of 37 and will be hoping to add more records to his impressive list during his time at Inter Miami.