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Behind former Arsenal star
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It has been another fabulous regular-season campaign for Lionel Messi. The Inter Miami CF star forward concluded the 2025 Major League Soccer campaign with 26 goals and 15 assists. In fact, MLS has Messi at 48 goal contributions, as the league also counts some second assists. Across all competitions, Messi has scored 29 goals and 17 assists in 35 games this season. The Argentine managed one goal in four appearances at the FIFA Club World Cup and two goals and two assists at the Leagues Cup.
Those numbers are certainly impressive. But they do fall short of an MLS regular-season record set by Carlos Vela for LAFC in 2019. The former Arsenal wonderkid managed an incredible 34 goals and ten assists in 31 regular-season games, or 44 direct goal contributions—49 goal contributions if you include MLS assists. Messi’s 0.96 goals per game this season also falls short of 1.1 goals per game scored by Vela in the 2019 regular season.
Vela’s record helped propel LAFC to an incredible regular season. The club finished with 72 points to win the Supporters’ Shield that season. But the Los Angeles club would fall short in the MLS Cup Playoffs, losing 3-1 to eventual champions Seattle Sounders in the semifinals. Vela and LAFC would finally win their first-ever MLS Cup three years later against the Philadelphia Union (6:3 on pens). Vela retired this year from professional football and, with 93 goals, ranks second in LAFC’s all-time goalscoring list (overview).
Lionel Messi: A goal every 97 minutes – MLS Cup or bust?
Messi, in the meantime, is Inter Miami’s all-time top goalscorer with 68 goals in 81 games across all competitions (overview). The 38-year-old has scored a goal every 97 minutes for Inter Miami or every 0.84 games. There is no doubt that Messi has been the most talented player ever playing in MLS, even if he has fallen short of Vela’s record. But to complete his legacy, Messi, who, according to a report by Forbes, is the second-highest-paid soccer player in the world, will have to help Inter Miami CF win the MLS Cup.
This season, the Beckham-owned club finished third in the Eastern Conference with 65 points and will face Nashville SC in the first round of the playoffs. Up next could be a meeting with an FC Cincinnati side that finished ahead of Inter Miami in the standings. Indeed, the Eastern Conference has been incredibly competitive this season. In other words, Messi will have to maintain his form in the playoffs for Inter Miami to finally secure a league title.
