Lionel Messi scores four as Inter Miami routs Montreal

Lionel Messi scored four goals in a Major League Soccer match for the first time in his career to help host Inter Miami snap a five-game winless skid across all competitions with a 7-1 rout of Montreal on Saturday night.

Messi broke a 1-1 tie shortly before halftime, added a second goal in the 52nd minute, a third in the 83rd minute and a fourth on a free kick in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time. Messi has 18 goals this season and passed Dallas' Petar Musa (16) for the lead in the MLS Golden Boot race. Musa and Dallas visit St. Louis City SC on Sunday.

It was also the ninth time in Messi's pro career that he's scored four or more goals in a match.

Inter Miami (12-4-6, 42 points) secured a needed three points while Montreal (5-11-6, 21 points) had a four-game unbeaten streak in league play snapped.

Casemiro, Luis Suarez and rookie Alexander Shaw each also scored one goal.

Inter Miami assistant coach Rafael Perez coached the match with Guillermo Hoyos watching from a skybox at the stadium. Hoyos was suspended for the match for violating the league's Late Kickoff Policy multiple times in recent matches. Hoyos will soon be replaced by Argentine Kily Gonzalez, who was hired this week but is waiting for the necessary paperwork to clear so he can join the team in the United States.

Casemiro headed home a ball off a corner kick by Telasco Segovia to open the scoring in the 20th minute.

Montreal leveled the match in the 37th minute when Fabian Herbers scored his first goal of the season. Noah Streit took a long ball inside the 18-yard box and swung it to the top and just outside the box to Herbers, who then fired a shot past Miami keeper Dayne St. Clair.

It was the 21st goal of Herbers' career.

Messi answered quickly in the 40th minute, angling a free kick just inside the near post that Montreal goalkeeper Thomas Gillier was unable to deflect.

Messi's second goal was a masterpiece, as he wove his way among three defenders and fired a shot past Gillier. Suarez's goal in the 80th minute came on a counterattack, as did Shaw's, which he scored in the 89th minute of just his third career MLS match.

--Field Level Media