Lionel Messi’s fingerprints are all over Inter Miami’s late-season surge.
Across the club’s last seven matches through Nov. 24, the 38-year-old Argentine has been directly involved in 22 of Miami’s 25 goals, an astonishing 88% contribution rate that underscores why he remains the most decisive player in Major League Soccer.
His impact is the culmination of a two-year transformation that began with his free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain in July 2023.
What started as a gamble on a 36-year-old adapting to MLS has turned into the defining chapter of Inter Miami’s young history.
The Herons finished second in the Eastern Conference this year with a 19-8-7 record, led the league with 74 goals, and entered the postseason as one of the most feared attacking sides in North America.
Messi’s 2025 season has been a study in sustained excellence.
Across 47 matches in all competitions, he has logged close to 3,760 minutes and produced 43 goals and 25 assists, giving him 68 total goal contributions – his most in a single calendar year since 2022.
His MLS regular season alone yielded 29 goals and 19 assists in 28 appearances, good enough to claim the Golden Boot ahead of LAFC’s Denis Bouanga and to surpass the 40-contribution mark in league play for the first time since his final years at Barcelona.
The postseason has only amplified his dominance.
Through six playoff matches, Messi has delivered 10 goals and eight assists, breaking the single-postseason record for goal involvements.
He delivered a hat trick and assist in a 5-2 rout of Nashville on Oct. 18, then dismantled Cincinnati with a goal and three assists on Nov. 23 to carry Miami into the Eastern Conference Final.
His production stretched across the Leagues Cup and Concacaf Champions Cup as well, scoring or assisting in every continental appearance and delivering seven goals and four assists in seven combined fixtures.
Even his two Club World Cup outings added another pair of goals to a season already overflowing with milestones.
His presence elevates Miami in every phase.
With Messi on the pitch, Inter Miami scores at a rate of 2.9 goals per 90 minutes, compared with just 1.4 without him, a gap that explains why the club finished the regular season with a league-best 12 clean sheets and its most balanced performance to date.
His connection with Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba has sharpened Miami’s final third, turning routine possessions into scoring sequences and ensuring that his influence extends well beyond the goals he scores himself.
At 38, Messi has defied every expectation of decline.
His totals with Inter Miami now stand at 77 goals and 40 assists in 86 appearances, numbers that pushed him past Gonzalo Higuain as the club’s all-time scoring leader earlier this year.
Globally, his combined tally across club and country has surged past 1,300 career goal contributions, a figure reached after his three-assist display against Cincinnati last week.
Inter Miami now heads toward the MLS Cup final on Dec. 7 with momentum rooted in its captain’s extraordinary form.
This seven-match stretch, in which Messi has crafted or finished 22 of the club’s 25 goals, offers the clearest window into his enduring genius: the ability not only to dominate games, but to redefine what is possible deep into a career already unmatched in modern football.
