Inter Miami CF Forward Lionel Messi Voted MLS Player of the Matchday for Matchday 9

NEW YORK (Monday, April 15, 2024) – Inter Miami CF forward Lionel Messi was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Matchday for Matchday 9 of the 2024 MLS season.

Messi recorded a goal and an assist in Miami’s 3-2 road victory over Sporting Kansas City, which was played in front of a club-record crowd of 72,610 at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium (Watch Highlights From His Performance Here). With his goal and assist in the win, Messi became the first player in MLS history to total at least five goals and five assists through his first five games of a season. Additionally, he joined Thierry Henry (11 in 2012), Landon Donovan (10 in 2008), and Raúl Díaz Arce (10 in 1997) as the only players with at least 10 goal contributions in their first five games to begin a season. The Argentine’s 10 goal contributions are currently tied with Real Salt Lake’s Cristian Arango for the most in MLS. Since Messi joined Miami in 2023, the Herons are now 5-0-2 in MLS games that he has produced a goal or an assist.

After falling behind early, Miami equalized in the 18th minute as Messi played a diagonal threaded pass through four defenders to Diego Gómez, who slotted his finish past the Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper to tie the match 1-1 (Watch Here). In the 51st minute, Messi received the ball in space and struck a thunderous left-footed effort from well outside the 18-yard box which found the top of the net to give Miami a 2-1 lead (Watch Here). Kansas City would tie up the match in the 58th minute, but the Herons would secure the victory with a game-winning goal from Luis Suárez just 13 minutes later.

This is the first time in his career that Lionel Messi has been named MLS Player of the Matchday. Of the first eight Player of the Matchday honors this season, Inter Miami players have taken home three of them, with Luis Suárez (Matchday 3 and 5) earning the other two. Since the start of last season, Messi is the seventh different player born in Argentina to be named Player of the Matchday and the first since FC Cincinnati’s Luciano Acosta on Matchday 34 of 2023.

Miami will look to continue their form atop the Eastern Conference standings when they host Nashville SC at Chase Stadium on Saturday, April 20 (7:30 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV).

The MLS Player of the Matchday is selected each matchday of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while an X (formerly known as Twitter) fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio, and online media.