Lionel Messi scores twice, Inter Miami beats Columbus Crew 3-2, wins Supporters’ Shield

This is why Inter Miami owners worked so hard to sign Lionel Messi, for magical moments like the ones he produced Wednesday night, scoring two brilliant goals in the span of five minutes to lead Miami to a 3-2 road win against the Columbus Crew and the first Supporters’ Shield in club history.

The third goal came from Messi’s close friend and former FC Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez and goalkeeper Drake Callender made a massive save on a penalty kick late in the game to thwart the Crew’s potential equalizer in a game that felt like an MLS Cup final.

Between them, the 37-year-old Messi and Suarez have combined for 35 goals and 21 assists this season. Messi has a remarkable 17 goals and 15 assists in 17 games, leading the league with 1.07 goals per 90 minutes, and Suarez sits third at 0.90.

The victory improved Inter Miami’s record to 20 wins, four losses and eight ties for 68 points, guaranteed to be the league’s best regular-season record with two games to go. Miami is assured of home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and could break the all-time record for points with a pair of wins.

Inter Miami will kick off the playoffs at home on Oct. 25 at 8:30 p.m. in the opening game of the Round One Best-of-Three series against the winner of the Eastern Conference Wild Card game.

“I am so happy for the group,” Messi told AppleTV on the field after the game. “At the beginning of the year I said we had a group to fight for this, we took charge from the start, and I am happy to reach our first objective. Columbus was a very tough opponent, defending champion, Leagues Cup champion, a very big team and we had to fight until the end.”

This star-studded team, with the league’s most expensive roster, has lost just one game with Messi in the lineup, and won eight of nine without him over the summer to stay perched atop the MLS standings when skeptics figured they would falter in the absence of the Argentine superstar.

When the whistle finally blew after 10 minutes of added time Wednesday night, Messi and his teammates celebrated as if they had won the MLS Cup. They leaped into each other’s arms, jumped up and down with their arms linked, and even coach Tata Martino allowed himself to celebrate.

“Leo [Messi] was the game changer, but we had strange goals in this game,” Martino said. “We had good stretches, we suffered at times, but we were able to meet our objective. Our goal is to get to Dec. 7 [MLS Cup final], we would like to play in the Club World Cup [next summer)], and we are justifying why we could go. Not just because of the names on our roster, but because of how we’re playing. It would be more just and mean more if we earn it, and this Supporters’ Shield was very important for us.”

Team co-owners Jorge and Jose Mas were there, soaking it all in, 15 months after they welcomed Messi to South Florida, a day that changed soccer in America.

Wednesday night, he showed why he is considered one of the best, if not the best player of all time.

In a wild game that lived up to its billing, Messi broke a scoreless stalemate in the 45^th minute, settled a long pass from Jordi Alba with his body, cut around two defenders and then knocked the ball past Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte, who looked dumbfounded.

Five minutes into first-half extra time, Messi struck again, a sublime curling free kick with his left foot that landed just inside the left post as Schulte watched in disbelief.

Inter Miami had tied the previous three games, leading some critics to say the team was playing better before Messi’s return from injury. But the stats, and his vision and precision, say otherwise. In the five games since his return the Argentine captain has scored five goals.

Martino had said earlier this week that Messi is playing himself into peak shape for the playoffs, and that he is getting better with each 90 minutes he plays. It sure looks that way and he was jubilant after the victory in Columbus, his second trophy with Miami and 46^th of his stellar career.

The defending MLS champion Crew gave Miami all it could handle and for a while, it looked like they would break Miami’s hearts for the second time in two months. In their previous meeting, during the Leagues Cup, Miami led 2-0 in the 67^th minute and then Columbus scored three unanswered goals in 23 minutes to stun Miami 3-2.

On Wednesday night, Uruguayan Diego Rossi electrified the yellow-clad home crowd with a goal one minute into the second half that trimmed Miami’s lead to 2-1. But their celebration was shortlived.

Suarez, the older Uruguayan, showed his experience by having the presence of mind to leap and head the ball into the empty net when two Crew players collided in front of the goal. Miami opened up a 3-1 lead, but the drama was far from over.

Noah Allen was called for a hand ball in the box, the Crew got a penalty kick, and Cucho Hernandez converted it after Callender guessed the wrong way to make it 3-2.

Columbus went down a man after Rudy Camacho got a second yellow card, but kept scrapping and attacking. Ian Fray was called for a second Inter Miami hand ball in the box, Hernandez got another penalty kick, but this time Callender came up huge with the save.

Miami held on the frenetic final minutes to earn the win and the Supporters’ Shield.

“I’ve always said Columbus is the best team in the league because of their continuity and their titles, but now we are showing that we are building a franchise that can do special things, a team that expects to win,” Martino said.

Messi was asked about the transformation from the league’s last place team before his arrival to the Supporters’ Shield winners. He said: “It started with the arrival of Tata and we got here, the idea was to be the leaders of the league, to possess the ball, and the team kept growing with new players. We had a lot of injuries all season, were rarely all together and the group kept winning even with the absences. That shows what kind of group we have.”

The winner of the Supporters’ Shield has won the MLS Cup title eight times in league history. Miami wants to make it nine.

“The points record is secondary, the main thing is what is coming up with the playoffs,” Messi said. “First we have a best-of-three series, but then it’s elimination games and anything can happen. We have a big advantage now, being able to play at home. We are very strong at home, but still have to prove we can win.”

Inter Miami plays at Toronto on Saturday.