Following his historic performance, which helped Inter Miami CFÂ snap a four-game winless skid, Lionel Messi has been named MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob ULTRA for Matchday 23.
Messi scored four goals and added one assist in Miami’s dominant 7-1 home victory over CF Montréal.
It marks the first time in his MLS career that Messi has scored four goals in a regular-season match. He is the 19th different player in league history to accomplish this feat.Â
The legendary Argentine No. 10 also owns one-fourth of all regular-season games in MLS history with at least five goal contributions, having done so three separate times in his career.Â
Messi also became the fastest player to hit 20 multi-goal games in the regular season, doing so in just 72 total matches.Â
The seven goals scored by the Herons in the contest were the most in club history in a regular-season game.
This is the third time Messi has been named MLS Player of the Matchday in 2026 (Matchdays 2 and 8), and it is the 15th honor in his career.
The GOAT has now eclipsed Jeff Cunningham (14) for the second-most Player of the Matchday awards in league history, behind only Landon Donovan (19).
Messi and Miami will look to keep pace in the Eastern Conference when they host Atlanta United on Saturday at Nu Stadium (7:30 pm ET | Apple TV).
The MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob ULTRA is selected each matchday of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while an Instagram fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
