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Every Record Lionel Messi Hit in 2025 MLS MVP Season

The Argentine No. 10 became the first player in MLS history to win back-to-back Landon Donovan MLS MVP Awards.

Ben Steiner

Lionel Messi had one of the best seasons in MLS history.
Lionel Messi had one of the best seasons in MLS history. / CHANDAN KHANNA/Getty Images

Lionel Messi has had plenty of stellar seasons in his professional career and his latest 2025 campaign with Inter Miami stood out among the best. 

The Argentine superstar led the Herons to the club’s first MLS Cup title with a win over Thomas Müller’s Vancouver Whitecaps and earned MLS Cup MVP honors for his performance. Based on his regular-season performance, he also became the first player to win back-to-back Landon Donovan MLS MVP Awards and captured his first MLS Golden Boot with 29 goals in 28 games. 

Here are the historic marks Messi met in the 2025 MLS season. 

MLS MVP: Back to Back

Lionel Messi MVP
Lionel Messi is the first player in MLS history to win back-to-back MVP Awards. / Rich Storry/Getty Images

Messi is the only player in 30 years of MLS to win MVP honors in back-to-back seasons. 

He also became the second player in MLS history to win two MLS MVP titles, joining only Preki, who achieved the mark in 1997 and 1993. He is just the second player in history to win MVP after leading the MLS season in goals and assists, joining Sebastian Giovinco’s 2015 season with Toronto FC. 

First Player to 1,300 Goal Contributions

Messi became the first player in recorded soccer history to hit 1,300 goal contributions, reaching the mark against FC Cincinnati in a 4–0 win in the 2025 MLS Cup playoffs. By the time he celebrated MLS Cup, he had 1,303 goal contributions in his career, including 896 goals and 407 assists. 

Most Career Assists

Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi (left) and Thomas Müller (right) are among the top five for the most assists all-time. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Messi’s legend grew throughout the MLS Cup playoffs, and he surpassed Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskás for the most assists in history with his performance against New York City FC in the Eastern Conference final. 

Puskás ended his career with 404 recorded assists. At the same time, Brazilian legend Pelé sits third all-time in the category with 369 assists. Johan Cruyff is fourth all-time with 358 assists, while Messi’s MLS Cup final rival Thomas Müller is fifth with 352. 

2025 MLS Golden Boot 

Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi captured his first MLS Golden Boot with 29 goals in 28 regular-season games. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

After scoring 20 goals in his first full MLS season, Messi stepped up his goalscoring touch with 29 goals in 28 games in his second MLS campaign. He entered Decision Day with a two-goal lead on LAFC’s Denis Bouanga, but scored a hat trick against Nashville to seal the honor. 

He is the fourth player in MLS history to win the Golden Boot and MVP in the same season. 

Multi-Goal Games Record and Streak 

Messi became the first player in MLS history to score multiple goals in 10 games in a single season. He scored twice against each of Nashville SC, Atlanta United, D.C. United, Red Bull New York, New England Revolution, CF Montréal, and the Columbus Crew. 

That total broke the previous record of eight games, shared by three other players, including Zlatan Ibrahimović’s 2019 season with the LA Galaxy. 

Five of his multigoal games also came in succession, making him the first player to achieve such a feat in MLS. 

Inter Miami All-Time Goal Contributions Leader

Lionel Messi and Inter Miami with MLS Cup
Lionel Messi (center) became Inter Miami's all-time scoring leader en route to MLS Cup. / Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Inter Miami did not have an illustrious history in their two-and-a-half seasons before Messi joined in the summer of 2023, so it didn’t take long for him to pass another Argentine legend, Gonzalo Higuaín, for the most goals and goal contributions in club history.

He hit that mark with a goal in a 1–1 draw with Toronto FC on April 6, which brought him to 44 goal contributions in 29 regular season matches all time, a precursor for the records to come later in the year. 

Chasing Carlos Vela

Messi had the most productive season in MLS history when it came to total contributions in the fewest games played, but found himself in second in the MLS record books for the most goal contributions in a single season. He finished with 48 regular-season goal contributions, one behind the record of 49, held by Carlos Vela’s 2019 season with LAFC.

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Ben Steiner
BEN STEINER

Ben Steiner is an American-Canadian journalist who brings in-depth experience, having covered the North American national teams, MLS, CPL, NWSL, NSL and Liga MX for prominent outlets, including MLSsoccer.com, CBC Sports, and OneSoccer.

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