Messi first to win consecutive MLS Golden Boots
Inter Miami surrender 3-0 lead in dramatic draw
Nashville set new league record with 77 points
Lionel Messi won his second consecutive MLS Golden Boot award on Saturday, but Inter Miami squandered a three-goal lead in a 3-3 draw with Charlotte on the final day of the regular season.
The Argentine superstar failed to score but set up Miami’s first two goals from corners at Nu Stadium as the defending champions secured second place in the Eastern Conference and home-field advantage for the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Messi’s 26 goals made him the first player to win back-to-back MLS Golden Boot awards. Dallas forward Petar Musa finished second with 22 after failing to score in his team’s 3-1 home victory over Colorado.
Ian Fray, Luis Suárez and Rodrigo De Paul scored first-half goals for Miami before Liel Abada struck twice shortly after the break to spark a Charlotte comeback, completed by Rodolfo Aloko’s 90th-minute equalizer.
Nashville broke the MLS single-season points record with a 2-0 victory over Cincinnati, finishing with 77 points to surpass the previous mark of 74 set by Miami in 2024.
Nashville finished atop the Eastern Conference with 23 wins, three defeats and eight draws, while Miami took second place with 60 points. Third-place New England missed a chance to overtake Miami after suffering a surprise 1-0 defeat at Orlando, leaving them on 58 points.
Miami will face Columbus in the opening round of the playoffs. Elsewhere in the East, New England will meet Philadelphia, Charlotte will take on Chicago and top-seeded Nashville will face the winner of the wild-card matchup between Orlando and Cincinnati.
Columbus secured seventh place and avoided the wild-card round with a 4-3 victory at Chicago.
At Nu Stadium, Messi’s 14th-minute corner fell unexpectedly to Charlotte’s Luca de la Torre, whose attempted clearance popped up for Fray to open the scoring.
Another Messi corner in the 33rd minute found Suárez unmarked at the near post, where the Uruguayan glanced a header into the net to double Miami’s advantage.
De Paul made it 3-0 before half-time, but Abada pulled one back for Charlotte shortly after the restart and struck again in the 55th minute.
Aloko completed the comeback in the 90th minute, reacting quickest after Smalls’s shot rebounded off the post.
A visibly frustrated Messi struck the woodwork in stoppage time before Aloko came within inches of an improbable winner with a thunderous shot into the side-netting.
Seattle and Real Salt Lake advance in West
Western Conference champions Vancouver defeated Canadian rivals Montreal 2-0 to finish second in the overall standings, securing home-field advantage should the Whitecaps face Inter Miami in a rematch of last year’s MLS Cup final.
Six teams entered Decision Day fighting for the final three Western Conference playoff places, with all 30 MLS clubs in action.
Portland, Colorado and the LA Galaxy each needed only a victory to secure a playoff berth, but only the Timbers delivered, winning 2-0 at Austin.
Real Salt Lake defeated the Galaxy 2-1, while Colorado fell 3-1 at Dallas, allowing Salt Lake to claim a postseason place.
Seattle secured the other remaining berth with a 2-1 home victory over Los Angeles FC. Albert Rusnák scored in the opening minute and set up Sebastián Gómez’s 31st-minute goal before Eddie Segura pulled one back for LAFC in the 82nd minute.
Minnesota defeated visiting San Jose 3-1 but, like the Galaxy, finished a point behind Real Salt Lake and missed the playoffs.
The opening Western Conference playoff matchups pit Vancouver against the winner of the wild-card meeting between Seattle and Real Salt Lake, Dallas against Portland, LAFC against St Louis and Houston against San Jose.
