Messi seals Golden Boot as hat trick lifts Inter Miami to 5-2 win over Nashville
If there were any doubts that Lionel Messi deserves the MLS MVP and Golden Boot trophies, he emphatically put them to rest with a spectacular three-goal performance that lifted Inter Miami to a 5-2 win on the road against Nashville SC in their regular-season finale on Saturday night.
The Argentine legend entered the game as the leading candidate to become the first player in MLS history to win back-to-back MVP trophies. He also had the MLS Golden Boot trophy practically in the bag and clinched it by the end of the night.
His hat trick rallied Miami from a 2-1 first-half deficit. Messi ignited his teammates, carried them on his back, and Miami scored four unanswered goals in the second half.
With the three goals and one assist on the night, Messi finishes the season with 29 goals and 19 assists in 28 games, one shy of Carlos Vela’s MLS record of 49 goal contributions. Denis Bouanga of Los Angeles FC trailed Messi by five goals in the Golden Boot race after Messi’s hat trick and failed to score against Colorado in the late game.
Messi is a man of few words, but the smile on his face as he celebrated each of the goals Saturday said it all.
“What can I say about Leo? The truth is, well, today he was exceptional, as he usually is,” Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said in his post-match news conference. “Clearly, I think if anyone had any doubts about what his regular season was like, the reality is he’s cleared any doubts. They’ll surely give him the MVP award for everything he’s shown.
Inter Miami enters the MLS playoffs next week as the No. 3 seed and Nashville stayed at No. 6, which means the two teams face each other again in the first round, a best-of-three series that begins Friday at 8 p.m. at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. Game 2 is at Nashville on Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m., and Game 3, if necessary, will be back on Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 8 (Time TBA).
Messi’s first goal of the night was a perfectly placed left-footed goal that skimmed the inside of the post in the 34th minute. His second was a penalty kick at the 63-minute mark, his first goal from the penalty spot all season, after Andy Najar was called for a hand ball in the box. But, he wasn’t done. Messi completed the hat trick in the 81st minute, a left-footed shot from the right side of the box to the bottom left corner that gave Miami a 4-2 lead.
Then, in added time, Messi had another chance to score but instead chose to send a sideways pass in the box to Telasco Segovia, who scored to put the exclamation mark on the game. He was also involved in the sequence of passes that led to Baltasar Rodriguez’s goal in the 67th minute.
Messi’s first goal Saturday was Miami’s only shot on goal in the first half, and Nashville led 2-1 at the break after goals by Sam Surridge and Jacob Shaffelburg.
Nashville dominated from the start, taking 12 first-half shots to four, including six on goal. Miami’s defense looked vulnerable, and the score would have been more lopsided if not for three big saves from Rocco Rios Novo, starting at goalkeeper for Inter Miami for the third game in the row, replacing Oscar Ustari.
But everything changed in the second half. Miami attacked more aggressively, defended with a higher line, took control of the game, and never looked back.
“The first half we struggled a lot, we lacked intensity, we defended poorly and when we had the ball we didn’t have many ideas,” Mascherano said. “We went into halftime losing 2-1, but it could have been by more goals. That is the truth. They had many clear chances.
“The second half was completely different. Our team played in Nashville’s half of the field, took more risks, had more patience and we not only were able to even out the game, but we wound up playing at a very high level.”
Saturday’s game was the last regular season game Messi played alongside his FC Barcelona teammates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, both of whom announced in recent weeks that they are retiring at the end of the season. Alba assisted Messi on his first goal, continuing their legendary partnership.
Messi, Busquets and Alba are close friends, along with Luis Suarez, who also played with them at Barcelona, and they would love nothing more than to lift the MLS Cup together.
The quartet was in the starting lineup on Saturday, along with Rios Novo, right back Marcelo Weigandt, center back Maxi Falcon, center back Gonzalo Lujan, midfielder Rodrigo De Paul, midfielder Tadeo Allende and midfielder Baltasar Rodriguez.
Rios Novo, 23, started the third game in a row since replacing 39-year-old Oscar Ustari, who started most of the season. Rios Novo has played 10 games this season and Miami has not lost any of them.
Rios Novo earned Mascherano’s trust with his recent performances. He conceded one goal in a 4-1 win over the New England Revolution and had a clean sheet in a 4-0 victory over Atlanta United.
And, he was tested early against Nashville, forced to make three big saves in the first 20 minutes, including a Surridge shot that Rios Novo dove to save with his outstretched fingertips.
In May, Inter Miami signed Ustari to a contract extension through the 2026 season with guaranteed compensation of $744,000 this year. Rios Novo joined the team in January for a base salary of $104,000 and guaranteed compensation of $122,866.
“We decided to let Rocco start the last three games of the regular season,” Mascherano said. “We wanted to see him and feel he responded very well. Despite the two goals we conceded, he made big plays that helped us, like Oscar has done all season. Now, we will analyze along with goalkeeper coach Mauro [Dobler] this week, we have good internal competition and we’ll see who starts next weekend.”
Nashville coach B.J. Callaghan said his team did not do a good enough job defending Messi.
“We didn’t do a good enough job against him, especially in the final 24, 25 yards. I think he was able to find spaces in the combinations and if you give him chances on the top of the box, he’s going to take them,” Callaghan said. “We look forward to playing Miami again. It was a tale of two halves, and there are learning lessons we take.”
This story was originally published October 18, 2025 at 7:23 PM.