Lionel Messi marked his return from injury with two goals and an assist to help Inter Miami to a 3-1 win against Philadelphia Union.
The World Cup-winning Argentina captain had not played since injuring his ankle in his country’s Copa America final victory over Colombia in July.
That saw him miss this month’s World Cup qualifiers, while he also sat out eight games for his Major League Soccer side – though they lead the MLS Eastern Conference standings.
But the 37-year-old former Barcelona star played the full 90 minutes in his first Inter Miami start for three months and ran the show.
Philadelphia took the lead after 58 seconds through Mikael Uhre but Miami equalised in the 26th minute, Messi beating a defender and lashing home after collecting a pass from Luis Suarez following good work from another ex-Barca team-mate in Jordi Alba.
Messi fired his team ahead four minutes later after being teed up by Alba and went on to set up Suarez for Miami’s third deep in second-half injury time.
After the match Messi, who now has 14 goals in 13 games this season, acknowledged he was “a little tired”.
“I really wanted to come back, I had been off of the field for a long time,” he added.
“Little by little I was training with the group, feeling good and that’s why we decided that I would start, and I’m very happy.”
Elsewhere, LA Galaxy fought back from two goals down to beat Los Angeles rivals LAFC 4-2 as the top two teams in the Western Conference met.
