Nashville, Oct 19 (IANS) Inter Miami CF superstar Lionel Messi has won the 2025 MLS Golden Boot, netting 29 goals to become the league’s leading scorer in his second full season with the Herons.

Messi contributed 19 assists as he outperformed LAFC’s Denis Bouanga (24 goals) and Nashville SC’s Sam Surridge (24 goals). He becomes Miami’s first-ever Golden Boot winner and the first Argentine to claim the award since Valentín “Taty” Castellanos did so with New York City FC in 2021.

The Argentine great tallied three goals and provided an assist during Saturday’s 5-2 Decision Day victory in Nashville, reaching 48 goal contributions (29 goals, 19 assists) this season – just short of Carlos Vela’s MLS record 49 for LAFC in 2019.

Now, Messi appears set to become the league’s first-ever player to win consecutive MVP awards, following a historic 2024 campaign that saw Miami claim that year’s Supporters’ Shield in record-breaking fashion.

Messi and Miami are the Eastern Conference No. 3 seed in the MLS Cup Playoffs, where they’ll face No. 6 Nashville in a Round One Best-of-3 Series. This year’s MLS Cup champion will be crowned on December 6.

Messi, the most decorated footballer of all time, now adds the MLS Golden Boot to his unparalleled CV. He is the latest in an exclusive list of players to secure the honour since the league’s inaugural season in 1996.

From 1996 to 2004, the MLS Golden Boot was awarded based on a points system that gave two points for a goal and one for an assist, before switching to solely counting goals.

Earlier this week, Messi became the player with the most assists in men’s international football after setting up two goals in Argentina’s 6-0 thrashing of Puerto Rico in an international friendly at Chase Stadium.

His pair of assists took his international tally to 60, surpassing Neymar and Landon Donovan, who each have 58. With this achievement, Messi is now just three assists short of 400 across his professional career.

–IANS

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