10 ridiculous Lionel Messi stats from his brilliant start to life Inter Miami | OneFootball

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Lionel Messi has been a huge hit at Inter Miami since joining earlier in the summer, and there are very few that would have doubted this would be the case.

The Argentine superstar call time on his wonderful European career as he left PSG upon the expiry of his contract, and despite massive contract offers from Saudi Arabia, he made the move to the MLS to take on a new challenge.

Fans were ecstatic of the news and desperate to get the chance to see the magician live with ticket sales going through the roof. His performances so far have backed up the belief that he still has enough quality to make a significant difference in his new side.

Joined by former Barcelona teammates - Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets - the 36-year-old has brought many new eyes to the American game in his first couple of months.

Off the back of his coveted move, here are 10 incredible stats regarding his short time with the club.

Messi has registered nine goals and three assists in his first six appearances for Inter Miami

Despite playing as a midfielder for the majority of the games, Messi still has the desire to get into the box and finish off attacking moves, with his arrival in the penalty area often timed to perfection.

His debut saw a last-minute free-kick winner netted in the 94th minute of the game, which set him on his way to producing one of the best starts imaginable to his spell in Miami. A first start for his new side brought two goals and two assists against Atalanta United in front of his new home fans.

This averages out at a goal every 56 minutes, and a direct goal contribution every 50 minutes.

A quite ridiculous output is something that fans of the game are almost used to at this point when it comes to Messi, as he managed to score a ridiculous 91 goals in a calendar year back in 2012. His time in Spain saw him manage an average of a goal every 94 minutes and a goal contribution every 65 minutes.

He’s scored in every one of his Inter Miami appearances to date, and he’s already scored two clutch free-kicks

Along with the 94th-minute winning free-kick against Cruz Azul in his first game, another brilliant goal was scored from a similar set-piece situation against FC Dallas in order to send the game to penalties. His side then went on to win the game, meaning his 85th-minute strike was vitally important to the game for a second time.

It comes as no shock, with the majestic Argentine sensation scoring many free-kicks in high-pressure situations, with the best possibly being his famous goal against Liverpool in the Champions League semi-final in 2019.

Messi stuck away a penalty in Miami’s penalty shootout victory over FC Dallas. He also sent in a free-kick cross that resulted in Dallas’ Marco Farfan scoring an own goal.

On top of his wonderfully executed free-kick goal in the second half of the match with FC Dallas, the midfielder sent in a cross from a set-piece to pick out an opposing head, as Farfan could do nothing other than guide the ball into his own net.

In the penalty shootout that followed the conclusion of the match, he confidently dispatched his spot-kick to the right-hand side on the way to helping his side to win the game and advance further in the tournament.

He is yet to make his MLS debut. At the rate he’s going, he could conceivably become 2023’s top scorer in all competitions, despite only making his debut in July

Denis Bouanga of LAFC is the current top goalscorer in all competitions - including the MLS and Leagues Cup with 18 goals. This means Messi has scored half as many goals already from only six games, and if he continues that strike rate, it will only take him another six to equal Bouanga's tally.

The season started in February, but Messi only joined in July and hasn't even made a league appearance yet for his new side. Incredible.

The 36-year-old is now the top scorer in this season’s Leagues Cup

His only appearances so far have been in the Leagues Cup, and he has managed to get his name on the scoresheet in all six of those games. The goals have been vitally important as Inter Miami have booked their place in the final of the competition.

Bouanga also has six goals in the tournament, meaning the players are level at present, although no one would put it past Messi to bag a goal in the final.

Messi has already outscored Steven Gerrard, Andrea Pirlo, Lothar Matthaus, Claudio Reyna, Freddie Ljungberg and Denilson in North American football

It would be fair to acknowledge that most of the names in question played in less advanced roles during their careers and were a bit more past their primes than Messi currently is. To better them all in only six games is seriously impressive though by anyone's standards.

Critics of Messi potentially taking the easy option at this stage of his career will be able to see this proves it is not always a walk in the park for established names when they move to America, despite the perception of the quality of football.

In fact, with hundreds of appearances between them, that lot only scored nine goals collectively. Messi has already managed to match this tally

This just adds to the fact everyone already knows. Messi is ridiculously good at football. He makes it all look so easy as well, with hundreds of appearances made by some top-drawer players. Messi has beaten them individually and has matched them collectively in less than 10 games.

Expect him to have beaten all of their added goal tallies by the time he's played two more games.

Inter Miami were winless in six prior to Messi's arrival but have won all six of the matches that Messi he's featured in

Admittedly the arrivals of Busquets and Alba as previously mentioned are a big help here, but it is clear how much of an impact the wonderful Argentine has had since his arrival on a free transfer.

The team currently sit bottom of the MLS Eastern Conference, which says it all about their fortunes before they got the Messi deal over the line in July.

Messi is now only 4/1 to win the MLS Golden Boot

Hany Mukhtar of Nashville is currently the top scorer in the MLS with 13 goals, but that could be under threat once Messi makes his mark on the competition as already stated with his goal-scoring record so far. It will take a lot for him to play catch up but with 4/1 odds it is clearly within the realm of possibility.

There is one fan that backed an incredible accumulator upon Messi's arrival at Inter Miami, and the first half of that bet is looking very good at the moment.