We knew Lionel Messi was the greatest soccer player of his generation. But what he's doing in Major League Soccer at this stage of his career is borderline absurd.
With one goal and two assists against Toronto, Messi reached 100 combined goals and assists in just 64 MLS games. That's 31 games faster than the previous record holder, Sebastian Giovinco.
Thirty-one games. That's not just breaking a record. That's obliterating it.
Messi now has 59 goals and 41 assists in his MLS career with Inter Miami, and he's rewriting record books like it's FIFA on easy mode. Every game, he does something that makes you shake your head and wonder how he makes it look so effortless.
Folks, this is a 38-year-old man playing against defenders half his age, and he's making them look silly. The vision. The passing. The finishing. The awareness. It's all still there, operating at a level the league has never seen.
MLS announced the milestone after the match, and the soccer world collectively nodded. Of course Messi did it. Because that's what greatness does.
Giovinco was an excellent player who dominated MLS in his prime. It took him 95 games to reach 100 combined goals and assists. Messi did it in 64. That's not an incremental improvement. That's a different stratosphere of excellence.
What makes this even more impressive is that Messi came to MLS later in his career. This wasn't prime Barcelona Messi. This wasn't World Cup-winning Argentina Messi. This is a player who's supposed to be winding down, and he's still head and shoulders above everyone else.
The impact he's had on MLS goes beyond statistics. He's brought attention to the league. He's filled stadiums. He's inspired a generation of young players who get to watch genius up close. Inter Miami was a struggling franchise before Messi arrived. Now they're must-see TV.
Every game could be the one where he decides to do something magical. A free kick that defies physics. A pass that splits three defenders. A goal that makes you rewind and watch again.
