Best player. Best team. Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi is the unquestioned force in Major League Soccer right now, on a run like nobody else the league has ever seen.
The 38-year-old Argentine star – and captain of the MLS Cup champions – has become the first back-to-back MVP in MLS history, being announced Tuesday as this year’s winner of the league’s top individual honor.
It’s another first for Messi in what seems like a never-ending list of his career accomplishments and was widely expected, almost assumed, after he had a league-best 29 goals along with 19 assists during the regular season.
He also becomes just the second two-time MVP the league has ever seen, joining Preki, the winner of the award in 1997 and 2003. The other winners are all one-time MVP recipients.