Lionel Messi Fastest in MLS History to 100 Regular-Season Goal Contributions as Miami Beat Toronto 4-2

There is a special kind of cruelty in breaking a record in the old house of the man who held it. In the 75th minute at BMO Field on Saturday afternoon, Lionel Messi ran onto a Rodrigo De Paul pass on a fast break and slid a left-footed finish into the bottom left corner. Toronto FC icon Sebastian Giovinco had needed 95 games to reach 100 MLS goal contributions. Messi, according to Inter Miami, got to 100 regular-season goal contributions in 64.

That goal made it 4-0 in what finished as a 4-2 Inter Miami win over Toronto FC in front of 44,828 fans, which Toronto said set a new BMO Field attendance record. Messi finished with a goal and two assists, De Paul scored once and set up another, and Luis Suárez and Sergio Reguilón also found the net before Emilio Aristizábal's late brace made the scoreline look closer than the afternoon felt.

Toronto Starts Brightly, De Paul Ends That

Toronto, playing its last home match before the World Cup break, came out with energy. Alonso Coello forced a save from Dayne St. Clair in the eighth minute, and Malik Henry, Markus Cimermancic and Deandre Kerr all let fly from outside the box in a three-minute burst. Kobe Franklin pulled another long-range effort just wide in the 24th.

Miami grew into it. Messi sent a direct free kick just wide in the 29th minute and pushed a shot from the center of the box narrowly wide in the 37th after a Suárez setup. Then, a minute before halftime, De Paul stood over a free kick, saw it blocked by the wall, and hit the rebound from outside the box into the bottom left corner. Toronto described it as a well-struck volley. Miami called it a half-volley. Either way, it was the kind of finish that makes a defensive wall feel personally attacked.

St. Clair kept the lead intact in first-half stoppage time with a save on Dániel Sallói from the left side of the box. At halftime, Toronto inducted former striker Jozy Altidore into Legends Row at BMO Field as part of the club's 20th season celebrations, a nice moment in a building that was about to watch someone else make history.

The Turning Point: Suárez Doubles It

Eleven minutes into the second half, Messi released Suárez on a fast break, and Suárez finished first time with his left foot from the center of the box. Toronto noted that Raheem Edwards was down injured following a tackle when the goal went in, and that it stood. Edwards was later replaced by Micah Chisholm in the 70th minute because of an injury.

The second goal changed the shape of the game. Toronto had to chase, and Miami, which finished with 60.1 percent of the ball, suddenly had room to counter. Luka Gavran saved a Messi shot from outside the box in the 62nd, and St. Clair answered at the other end by stopping a Zane Monlouis header in the 67th.

Then Miami pulled away. Reguilón, a 68th-minute replacement for Noah Allen, got in behind on a Messi through ball in the 73rd and beat Gavran with a right-footed shot from the center of the box. Miami said it was his first goal for the club. Two minutes later, De Paul and Messi combined on the break for the record-setter, and it was 4-0.

Star Watch: Messi, De Paul and a Late Toronto Reply

Messi took five shots, put three on target, scored once and assisted twice. Miami said the goal was his ninth of the regular season, and MLS noted he has 9g/4a in 11 starts. The record is the headline, but the playmaking deserves its own mention: his passes set up two of the four goals.

"They express themselves in an extraordinary way," Miami interim head coach Guillermo Hoyos said of his stars. "And when they express themselves, they open any defense, any game situation."

On the record itself, Hoyos sounded protective.

"That's an extraordinary record, one that marks a path," he said. "And I believe we have to protect him even more. He needs more protection. Because there aren't many Leo Messi's. There's only one."

De Paul was nearly as influential, with a goal from two shots and the assist on the fourth goal. MLS said he is up to 3g/5a on the season. Suárez, Miami said, scored his third league goal of the year.

Toronto's consolation came from the bench. Aristizábal, who came on for Kerr in the 65th minute, finished from the center of the box in the 82nd off a Sallói pass, with Toronto pinning the chance on a David Ayala mistake. In the 90th, he headed home a Franklin cross. Toronto said it was his first brace for the club, and the assist gave Sallói a team-leading eighth goal contribution. The hosts kept pushing through eight minutes of stoppage time, and Walker Zimmerman headed just over in the 100th minute, but the gap was too big.

Stats That Matter

• Possession: Miami 60.1 percent, Toronto 39.9 percent.
• Shots: Toronto 13, Miami 11. Miami put seven on target to Toronto's five.
• Messi: Five shots, three on target, one goal, two assists.
• Passing: Miami completed 505 of 581 passes; Toronto completed 305 of 370.
• Saves: St. Clair three, Gavran two.

What It Means

Inter Miami improves to 6-4-2 with 22 points and bounces back from a 4-3 home loss to Orlando City in the Florida Derby a week earlier. Miami said it has the best road record in the league, with 19 points from six wins, a draw and a loss away from home. The Herons visit FC Cincinnati on Wednesday, May 13.

Toronto drops to 3-5-4 with 14 points and is winless in six league matches since beating the Colorado Rapids on April 4, with four draws and two losses in that stretch. Robin Fraser made five changes from Tuesday's Canadian Championship match against Atlético Ottawa, Toronto said. Next up is a trip to Charlotte FC on Saturday, May 16.

Closing Take

Records are supposed to fall quietly, in some random midweek game nobody remembers. Messi's fell in front of a record crowd, in the home of the Toronto icon whose mark he broke, during a day the club spent honoring one of its own. That is not a coincidence so much as a plot twist written by someone who loves irony. Hoyos had the closing line ready.

"The real protagonists in all this are the players," he said. On Saturday, one of them was a little more protagonist than the rest.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes as reported by MLSsoccer.com, with match notes from Inter Miami CF (intermiamicf.com) and Toronto FC (torontofc.ca).