Inter Miami star Lionel Messi named MLS Player of the Month for April

Messi has been named the outstanding player in Major League Soccer in April, after his goals and assists helped Inter Miami to an unbeaten month.

Lionel Messi’s exploits for Inter Miami in recent games have seen the Inter Miami star add to his bumper career collection of individual awards, as the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner continues to dazzle in his first full season with the Fort Lauderdale team.

Major League Soccer has named Messi the league’s Player of the Month for April, after he made an immediate impact following his return to fitness.

Last month, the 36-year-old scored six goals and supplied four assists in four MLS games for Miami.

Following Messi’s comeback against Colorado Rapids on 6 April - some five weeks on from his previous MLS appearance - Miami went through the entire month of April undefeated in the league. After a 2-2 draw with the Rapids, Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino’s men enjoyed successive wins over Sporting Kansas City, Nashville and New England Revolution, leaving the Herons three points clear at the top of the Eastern Conference regular-season standings.

Messi was involved in almost all the goals that Miami scored in MLS in April: the Argentine either scored or assisted all but two of the team’s 12 strikes across their four April fixtures.

Having scooped the Player of the Month award - in the process continuing Miami’s clean sweep of the accolade so far this season - Messi has strengthened his candidacy for the 2024 MLS MVP award.

As things stand, his chief rival for the year-end honour is his team-mate and close friend Luis Suárez, who won Player of the Month in both February and March.