Inter Miami's Lionel Messi could surpass two major MLS records

But can the greatest player of our generation maintain the pace and snatch MLS' all-time goalscoring and assist records by the end of the season?

Let's assess.

Goals

Carlos Vela's 2019 season with Los Angeles FC was one for the history books, as he smashed the MLS' season goalscoring record on the final day of competition with a hat trick against the Colorado Rapids.

His tally — 34 goals in 34 games — was one of the highest season goalscoring figures in professional soccer that season. Only one player topped it: Messi, who scored 36 goals for Barcelona during the same time period.

Messi, who has missed four of Miami's 12 games this season, needs 24 goals to match Vela's record. 

With 22 games remaining in the 2024 regular season, Vela's mark looks beatable, but there's a catch. Messi is expected to miss five MLS games when he represents Argentina in the Copa America this summer, so he doesn't have 22 MLS games — he may have 17 at best.

With that in mind, Messi must score goals at a rate of 1.41 goals per game to challenge Vela. His goalscoring rate so far this season is 1.25 per game, so the Argentine superstar must pick up the pace.

Assists

Goals aren't the only metric by which we measure attackers — assists matter, too. The current MLS season assist record is 26, set by Colombian striker Carlos Valderrama in 2000.

Messi has 12 assists in his eight games this season, an average of 1.5 assists per game. If he continues at this pace for 17 games, Messi will shatter Valderrama's MLS record for assists, finishing with roughly 38. 

With game-level records seemingly falling every time Messi plays in MLS, it will be fascinating to see if he can challenge season-wide records, too.

Besting one of those records would get Messi in the history books. Besting both would make him an MLS legend, too.