Like everyone else who watched Lionel Messi score a hat trick and deliver two assists for Argentina Tuesday night, his Inter Miami teammates were bewildered.
“Unreal,” defender Noah Allen said smiling Wednesday morning before training, when asked about Messi’s performance in the 6-0 Argentina victory over Bolivia. “He’s still got it, obviously. One thing that really stood out to me is that that was actually a really tough game. I know a lot of people are probably saying, `It was just Bolivia,’ but that’s actually a really tough game and a hat trick and two assists…it’s unreal.”
Entering that World Cup qualifier, Bolivia had won three games in a row against Venezuela, Chile and Colombia. Argentina was coming off a tie against Venezuela and had lost to Colombia in the previous game, so Bolivia, which sits in seventh place in South American qualifying, was a formidable opponent.
Messi, the 37-year-old captain, had a vintage night, scoring two of his three goals in the span of two minutes at the end of the game, raising his career total to 112 goals with the national team. He played the full 92 minutes in his first appearance in Argentina in nearly a year, and looked energized, asking for the ball in extra time with a six-goal lead.
It was the first time he scored multiple goals and assists in an Argentina uniform and it was his tenth hat trick for the national team, tying him with Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo for the career record.
“Leo, like always, did what he does, and surprised us, like he does, one of the best performances he has ever had for the national team,” said Argentine Inter Miami center back Tomas “Toto” Aviles. “It was really nice to see. We know what he offers our team and seeing him do that with the national team will help us very much going forward.”
Messi sat out for two months after spraining his right ankle during the Copa America final in mid-July, but looks like he is fully recovered as Inter Miami heads into the final stretch. The regular-season finale is at home Saturday against New England and the MLS playoffs kick off Oct. 25.
Allen said he has not seen any drop off in Messi’s play since he returned from the injury.
“I think he’s better, honestly,” Allen said. “Obviously, he’s getting older, but he’s still in amazing, amazing condition. He could probably play for many, many more years. I think the injury just gave him some rest, honestly.”
Aviles agreed.
“Leo’s always in good shape, and now, he’s even better, as we saw Tuesday night,” Aviles said. “The more time passes, the better he gets.”
The Inter Miami captain was headed home Wednesday and expected to rejoin his teammates at training over the next few days. He is scheduled to be at Chase Stadium Thursday afternoon to receive an award from MARCA, the Spanish sports media outlet, which recently expanded to the United States. He will be the first recipient of the MARCA America Award, to honor his contributions to soccer.
In a televised postgame interview after the game, Messi said: “It’s very nice to play [in Argentina], feeling the affection of the Argentinean fans. It makes me emotional to hear how they yell my name. I enjoy the connection with the fans and love playing at home.”
He will be at his MLS home on Saturday for the 6 p.m. season finale against New England. Miami already cliched the top seed and home field advantage for the MLS Playoffs, and can break the league points record with a win. The Revolution set the record (73 points) in 2021. Miami enters the game with 71 points and the Revolution is second-to-last in the East with 31 points.
“I think it’s important we focus on the points record; we want to get that record, but our biggest goal is to win going into the playoffs, having the confidence, getting the three points, and building on the last two wins we had,” Allen said.
Messi’s performance Tuesday night will energize his Inter Miami teammates, Allen said, as will the return of Diego Gomez (Paraguay), Leo Campana (Ecuador) and Benja Cremaschi (U.S. Under 20), all of whom were on national team duty. Cremaschi, the 19-year-old from Key Biscayne, scored in both friendly matches against host Chile, a 3-0 win on Oct. 10 and a 2-1 loss on Tuesday.
“It’s always positive to see your teammates do well when they go to national teams and we’re happy that Leo did really well and looked amazing out there and we’re going to build on that,” Allen said. “It gives us more confidence going into the game this weekend.”
The game is being billed as Fan Appreciation Night. The first 10,000 fans will receive an Inter Miami/Florida Blue bucket hat. There will be a presentation of the Supporters’ Shield immediately after the game.
Injury update: Midfielder David Ruiz strained his right hamstring while with the Honduran national team and his status is unknown for upcoming games…Center back David Martinez (groin) returned to full training.
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