Messi came back in a big way: double, assist and victory for Inter Miami

Leo Messi He returned on Saturday – after two months out with a right ankle injury – with a double and an assist on Uruguayan Luis Suárez, taking his tally to 17 MLS goals and bettering Gonzalo Higuaín’s scoring record in Inter Miami. MLS day started with Messi’s soccer party and ended in Los Angeles with one of the most intense and spectacular Los Angeles derbies ever. The Galaxy came back from a 0-2 deficit at home against Los Angeles FC and ended up winning 4-2 with a late goal from Spaniard Riqui Puig to level the table in the West and secure their lead.

We had to wait 105 days to see Messi compete on the field again. His response was strong: he scored two goals, one from the right and one from the left, from passes respectively from Suárez and Jordi Alba, to restore the score against the Philadelphia Union at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. And with the score 2-1, he provided Suárez with an assist for ‘el Pistolero’ to finish with his right foot and celebrate his seventeenth league goal of the season, one more than Gonzalo Higuaín in the pink shirt of Inter Miami.

Messi already has fourteen goals and fifteen assists in thirteen games played in MLS for an Inter Miami that, after five consecutive victories, is further ahead in the MLS East, with 62 points, a move that away from celebrating the success of the Supporters’ Shield in the best club of the regular season.

No goals in the Ohio derby

Especially after Saturday’s other notable rivalry in the East, the Ohio derby between Cincinnati and the Columbus Crew, ended in a goalless draw. Argentine Lucho Acosta’s Cincinnati maintains a two-point lead over Colombian Juan Camilo ‘Cucho’ Hernández’s Crew, who are a game down. Still in the East, Orlando City achieved a resounding 3-0 victory over the New England Revolution with goals from Brazilian Rafael Santos, Uruguayan Facundo Torres, from a penalty, and Duncan McGuire.