Inter Miami has been unbeaten since Lionel Messi arrived at the club in mid-July.
On Sunday night, the side played its best game of the season on the road against defending MLS Cup champions.
Messi had two assists in front of a star-studded crowd in Inter Miami’s 3-1 victory over Los Angeles Football Club.
Facundo Farías, Jordi Alba and Leonardo Campana scored for Miami, who are unbeaten in their last 11 matches across all competitions.
Ryan Hollingshead scored for LAFC, who have dropped points in their last two clashes.
Miami’s visit to Los Angeles was marked as one of the highlight games since Messi signed. It was viewed by 22,921 fans, a record for LAFC’s BMO Stadium.
It also vaulted into one of the most-demanded tickets in MLS’ 27-year history.
According to TickPick, the average purchase price for the match was $717, which was 515% more than the $110 before he signed.
By comparison, Beyonce’s concert at SoFi Stadium had an average purchase price of $493.
Among the celebrities in attendance were Prince Harry, LAFC co-owner Will Ferrell, Leonardo DiCaprio, Selena Gomez, Owen Wilson, Mario Lopez and Edward Norton. “Ted Lasso” stars Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunting also were at the game.
Sunday’s match, though, will be Messi’s last with Miami for at least the next two weeks. The 36-year-old will be part of Argentina’s World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador on Thursday and Bolivia five days later.
“We will try to put together the best performance possible against Kansas City (on Saturday),” Martino said. “We’ll also hope that the players leaving come back healthy and well so that we can continue this stretch.”
Messi has 11 goals and eight assists for Miami, which is eight points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with eight regular-season matches remaining.
Alba and Sergio Busquets, who were Messi’s teammate when they were at Barcelona, are also coming into form. Alba has two goals since coming to Miami while Busquets set up the pass for Messi that led to Alba’s goal.