Nashville vs Inter Miami: Lionel Messi wins MLS golden boot with hat-trick as Mascherano calls captain ‘best player to have played this sport’

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Inter Miami manager Javier Mascherano has called Lionel Messi’s performance “amazing” after the Herons captain scored a hat-trick in a 5-2 win at Nashville to seal the MLS 2025 golden boot by a five-goal margin.

Miami finished third and will face Nashville again in the round-of-three series of the playoffs after recovering from being behind at half-time to beat the team who finished sixth.

“He is the best player to have played this sport and he continues to show that,” said Mascherano, whose side finished a point behind Supporters’ Shield winners Philadelphia.

“He was amazing. If anybody had any doubts over his regular season, that has cleared up any doubts. Surely they will award the prize for the Most Valuable Player to him for all he has demonstrated, not to mention these three goals.”

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Nashville vs Inter Miami: Messi hat-trick

Messi opened the scoring from outside the box in the 34th minute after a thrilling run, although Sam Surridge – who has spent time as the leading MLS marksman this season and finished joint-second with LAFC’s Denis Bouanga on 24 goals – equalised and Jacob Shaffelburg turned the scoreline around during first-half added time.

The World Cup winner levelled with a penalty. Baltasar Rodriguez and Telasco Segovia – the latter set up by Messi – also netted for Miami either side of the 38-year-old curling in his third.

“We lacked intensity,” Mascherano said of Miami’s first half. “We defended very, very low and then, with the ball, we had many ideas.

“We were losing… but it could have been more because [Nashville] had many clear chances. Now we’re entering a decisive phase and every detail, every moment counts. We cannot fall back into mistakes.

“[The second half] was very good and at a very high level. I think it has to do with that intensity, conviction and playing a few steps higher up the pitch, to play with our highest defensive line and taking risks together. We won the individual duels.”

Lionel Messi goals, stats

Messi finished on 29 goals for the regular season, with only San Diego’s Anders Dreyer matching the Argentina icon’s tally of 19 assists.

“There are not enough words to say about him,” said defender Ian Fray. “Especially when you have a really good fanbase like [Nashville], a lot of teams will come out firing, and that’s what they did.

“They have quality players. Towards the end of the game, our quality took over.”

Inter Miami playoff opponents: Nashville again

Miami will host Nashville in round one of the playoffs, which start on October 24 with exact dates of matches to be confirmed.

They will then visit the same opponents and, should neither side win both matches, host a deciding game.

Messi and his teammates will hope to avoid a repeat of their shock exit in their first playoff tie last season, when they were ranked first as the Supporters’ Shield winners but were knocked out by ninth-ranked Atlanta United despite winning the opening match between the teams.

English forward Surridge and Hany Mukhtar have been responsible for a combined 40 goals during the regular season.

German Mukhtar scored in their 2-1 defeat at Miami on July 13, when Messi scored twice.

Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: 101greatgoals.com

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