COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Lionel Messi and Inter Miami have another trophy, along with home field advantage in the Major League Soccer playoffs.

Messi scored twice in the final minutes of the first half, goalkeeper Drake Callender stopped a penalty in the 84th minute and Inter Miami defeated defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew 3-2 on Wednesday night, concluding the Supporters Shield awarded annually to the team with the best regular-season record.

It was Messi’s 46th major trophy won for his club or country, extending his record for all men’s footballers in history. And it is the second one he wins with Inter Miami. This Supporters Shield adds to the Leagues Cup trophy that the Herons claimed shortly after Messi joined the club in 2023.

“We knew this was a group that could fight for this,” Messi said.

Luis Suarez also scored for Inter Miami, which opens a best-of-three first-round playoff series on the last weekend of October. If the team wins that series, it will have the right to host every game it plays for the rest of the season: an Eastern Conference semifinal (scheduled for November 23 or 24), the East final (November 30 or December 1 ) and the MLS Cup final on December 7.

“We have a great opportunity to go down in history… and now we think about what is to come,” Messi told Apple TV after the match. “We have the big advantage of playing all the games at home, and that was exactly what we were looking for. I think we are very strong at home.”

Also still within reach for Inter Miami: the best MLS regular season win ever. Wednesday’s win pushed Inter Miami’s record to 20-4-8 this season, good for 68 points. If the club wins its final two games – Saturday in Toronto and Oct. 19 at home against New England – the club would finish with 74 points.

New England holds the single-season points record, finishing with 73 in 2021.

Messi opened the scoring in the 45th minute, taking a long pass from Jordi Alba – his old teammate at Barcelona, ​​the club with which Messi won 35 of his trophies – and splitting two defenders before somehow pushing the ball past Columbus- goalkeeper Patrick Schulte was given a 1-0 lead.

And about five minutes into first half stoppage time, Messi struck again from a free kick from about 30 meters away. Schulte looked fooled and Messi squeezed the ball between the goalkeeper and the near post, creating a 2-0 lead.

“Dominant,” said Inter Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino.

Diego Rossi scored for Columbus in the opening minute of the second half to halve the lead, but it didn’t take long for Inter Miami to restore their two-goal lead. Almost immediately after play resumed, Schulte was upended by one of his own defenders Suarez headed a header into an empty goal for a 3-1 lead.

Juan “Cucho” Hernández’s penalty in the 61st minute brought Columbus within 3-2. But again the momentum didn’t last long. Rudy Camacho received his second yellow card in the 63rd minute, meaning the team had to play with 10 men for the rest of the time.

It didn’t matter. Columbus still created some big chances.

A deflected ball came across the penalty area and onto the right foot of Mohamed Farsi in the 76th minute, but his shot was blocked by Callender, who was perfectly positioned to protect the lead.

Then more drama ensued, as Inter Miami was called for the second handball in the penalty area – an automatic penalty – of the second half. Hernández found the left side of the net, but Callender made the save almost easy.

That save helped finish what Messi started.

It was the fifth two-goal game of the MLS season for Messi, who has now scored 17 goals in 17 league appearances this season. He has missed 15 of Inter Miami’s MLS games in 2024, either due to commitments to the Argentina national team or the two-month absence he needed to recover from a seriously injured ankle. injury that happened during his country’s race to the Copa America title in July.

Inter Miami, which is in the MLS this season, is now 10-1-6 with Messi in the lineup.

“During the year we had a lot of injuries, so we couldn’t all be together… but the group made the most of every tough match,” Messi said.

The Crew and the LA Galaxy entered Wednesday still with the mathematical hope of passing Inter Miami in the race for the Supporters Shield, and Cincinnati trailed by nine points with nine points still possible.

But now they’re all playing for second place.

“Dec. 7 is what we want,” Martino said, referring to the date of the MLS Cup final. “But that is not unimportant today.”

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