Lionel Messi made his first start for Inter Miami CF since returning from the FIFA World Cup and picked up right where he left off, scoring a stellar pair of goals to guide his team to a come-from-behind 4-2 rout of Atlético de San Luis in its first game of the 2026 Leagues Cup.

The visitors got on the board early at Nu Stadium in Miami on Wednesday when David Rodriguez’s glancing header beat Rocco Ríos Novo in the fourth minute after some nice buildup play by San Luis, but the lead didn’t last long.

Miami hit right back with an exquisite volley from Messi, who redirected Noah Allen’s cross from the left flank while running at full speed in his second game back for the club since taking a break after Argentina’s run to the final of the World Cup.

“He struck the ball out of the air,” Miami coach Guillermo Hoyos said of Messi’s first goal. “Those of us who have played football know what it takes to find the time and space to connect, meeting a cross coming from left to right and hitting it cleanly on the volley with his left foot. If we were talking about painting, it would be Picasso.”

In Messi’s absence, Luis Suárez helped steady the ship for Miami in the return to MLS play after the World Cup, but the Uruguayan was unavailable against San Luis as he began serving the first game of a six-match ban for spitting on a Seattle Sounders FC staffer after his team’s loss in the 2025 Leagues Cup final.

The six-game ban means Suárez, who has seven goals in the past four matches, will not play in this year’s tournament.

Allen earned his second assist midway through the first half after he latched onto a lovely through ball to run in behind the San Luis defense and played the ball back to Telasco Segovia to power a shot into the back of the net. Messi also picked up an assist on Miami’s second goal to go along with his brace.

Miami’s third goal of the first half — and Messi’s second on the night — came on the back of some intricate buildup play with Allen again setting up his team captain, this time in the center of the area, where he tiptoed through two defenders and buried a close-range strike past Andrés Sánchez.

“If Messi plays on the counter, he’s the best; if you sit deep and give him too much time on the ball, he’s also the best,” San Luis coach Diego Mejía said. “So, my decision was for us to stick to our identity. We look at the bigger picture, of course, but we’re talking about the greatest player in history.”

The goal made Messi the leading scorer in Leagues Cup history with 14, one ahead of LAFC’s Denis Bouanga since the expanded competition began in 2023. It also gave Messi, who played 39 minutes in his first game back in a 2-2 MLS draw with Columbus, his fifth multigoal game in 12 career League Cup games.

His strike partner Allen recorded three assists in a game for the first time in his career.

If San Luis had any hopes of a second-half comeback, they were put to bed when Micael outjumped his defender on a corner kick and headed home to give Miami a 4-1 lead at the break.

The second half was marked by a weather delay due to heavy rains after Rafa Llorente cut into the Miami lead with a screamer, but San Luis could not find a way back into the game once play resumed despite some good chances down the stretch.

Miami’s Mateo Silvetti, who came on as a second-half substitute, left the game in the 83rd minute clutching his left arm after picking up a shoulder injury.

“He [Silvetti] had dislocated his shoulder. We’re sending him a big hug and wishing him a speedy recovery from the pain; a shoulder injury is incredibly painful,” Hoyos said.

Before heading off at the end of May to the World Cup — where Argentina lost to Spain in the final — Messi had helped Miami win four games in a row to solidify its spot near the top of the MLS Eastern Conference standings.

Messi led Miami to the Leagues Cup title in 2023 shortly after his arrival to the club.

Miami’s next Leagues Cup game is Saturday against Monterrey. San Luis plays Nashville SC on Sunday.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.