Messi scores twice as Inter Miami win 4-0 over D.C. United in his first match since Argentina retirement

Lionel Messi scored twice as Inter Miami beat D.C. United 4-0 in Miami, Florida, on Oct. 10, 2026, the forward moving to a league-leading 23 goals this season. It was his first match since his Argentina retirement.

Four days after playing his farewell match that ended a 21-year tenure with the Argentine national team, Messi played the entire 90 minutes. The victory was Miami’s first league win since a 7-1 rout of CF Montreal on Aug. 29 and the club’s first league win under new coach Cristian “Kily” González, who took over Sept. 16.

Luis Suárez scored twice and Germán Berterame supplied two assists for Inter Miami. Miami’s first real scoring threat resulted in Suárez’s opener three minutes into the match when he met Berterame’s header and beat goalkeeper Sean Johnson with a shot that landed inside the left post.

Suárez doubled the lead in the 39th minute. After Johnson deflected a point-blank shot from Messi to an unmarked Berterame, the midfielder fed Suárez with a header that the striker retrieved inside the 6-yard box and tapped home for his second.

Messi opened his account in the 47th minute following Suárez’s two first-half strikes; Suárez had centered a pass near the 6-yard box, where Messi retrieved it and tapped a shot inside the right post. He added a second in the 60th minute when he received Rodrigo De Paul’s pass, dribbled inside the large area and eluded two United defenders to beat Johnson with a 12-yard shot.

D.C. United remain winless in their last five matches. The result snapped Miami’s five-match winless skid — four draws and one loss before Saturday’s outburst.