By TIM REYNOLDS<\/p>\n
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Lionel Messi raised the Golden Boot. He then got Inter Miami started with his head.<\/p>\n
Messi opened the scoring<\/a> with a diving header in the first half, then capped the scoring in the 96th minute as Inter Miami opened the Major League Soccer playoffs with a 3-1 win over Nashville SC in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference best-of-three first-round series on Friday night.<\/p>\n Messi and Ian Fray had the assists on Tadeo Allende\u2019s second-half tally for Inter Miami, which now gets two chances to advance out of the first round for the first time in Messi\u2019s 2 1\/2-year tenure with the team. Game 2 is at Nashville on Nov. 1. Game 3, if necessary, would in Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 8.<\/p>\n Hany Mukhtar got Nashville\u2019s goal off a free kick in the 101st minute. It was the final play of the match.<\/p>\n The win capped a big couple of days for Inter Miami, which announced Messi\u2019s three-year contract extension<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think we ever could have imagined that Leo would have been able to deliver for this club, for this city and for this league the way he has,\u201d said MLS Commissioner Don Garber, who presented Messi with the Golden Boot \u2014 the trophy presented to the league\u2019s top goal scorer \u2014 in a pregame ceremony.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, he has reset the trajectory for Major League Soccer and we were already doing pretty well,\u201d Garber added. \u201cAnd I think having three more years is just going to be another gift. Hopefully it\u2019s the gift that keeps on giving.\u201d<\/p>\n Messi ducked behind a line of defenders for the header that opened the scoring in the 19th minute. Allende scored off a header<\/a> as well in the 62nd minute, with Messi starting that play with a pass to Fray on the right wing. Fray chipped the ball into the middle of the box and Allende made the rest look easy.<\/p>\n The capper came in stoppage time, when the ball deflected to an unmarked Messi in the goal mouth. He tapped it home for a 3-0 lead.<\/p>\n Messi was the league\u2019s MVP last season and is the overwhelming choice to win the award again this year, which would make him only the second two-time winner in league history and the first to win it in back-to-back years. Preki won the MVP award in 1997 and 2003.<\/p>\n Messi scored 29 goals in the regular season, five more than LAFC\u2019s Denis Bouanga and Nashville\u2019s Sam Surridge. He also had 19 assists, and his 48 total goal contributions was one shy of matching the MLS record of 49 set by Carlos Vela in 2019.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to lean into this unique and special historic moment that I know I\u2019ll look back on and say, \u2018Boy, I can\u2019t believe I was running a league that had the best player in the history of the game playing in it,\u2019\u201d Garber said. \u201cSometimes I find when things are happening \u2026 you\u2019re just moving on to the next thing. I think we all need to take a step back and appreciate Leo Messi is playing in Major League Soccer.\u201d<\/p>\n The new contract means Messi could remain with Inter Miami into his early 40s. He is still the biggest name in soccer; ticket revenue for MLS set a record this year, Inter Miami\u2019s value has doubled by some estimates to about $1.2 billion since he arrived and he has led the league in jersey sales annually since his arrival midway through 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s the unicorn of unicorns,\u201d Garber said. \u201cYou know, there\u2019s something about the way he\u2019s wired. He\u2019s thinking about the game like nobody else ever has. His intensity and desire to win is what makes him the greatest of all time. There are a lot of really competitive players, but he has this special sauce, this dynamic that has him so focused on doing what he needs to do to win games.\u201d<\/p>\n Garber also lauded Inter Miami for how it made the announcement of Messi\u2019s signing. The team revealed it on social media<\/a> with a video of Messi signing his contract, then the camera pulls out to show that he\u2019s actually sitting where the field will be inside the team\u2019s new stadium near Miami International Airport. The stadium is scheduled to open next year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just shows how classy and smart they are,\u201d Garber said.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n