After winning the championship title with Inter Miami, Lionel Messi expectedly won the Most Valuable Player award in Major League Soccer, sportal.bg reported.
Thus, the Argentine became the first player in the history of the league to win this award in two consecutive seasons.
During the current campaign, the 38-year-old eight-time winner of the "Golden Ball" scored 43 goals and made 28 assists in all tournaments. In the regular season of the championship alone, he has 29 goals and 19 assists in 28 games. In the playoffs, Messi scored six more goals and made nine assists. All of this speaks volumes about his contribution to Inter Miami's championship.
Messi received over 70% of the total votes, made up of votes from media, players and club staff, to win yet another individual award in a career filled with such awards. San Diego FC winger Anders Dreyer, who tied for first in the league in assists and added 19 goals, finished second with just over 11%. He was followed by LAFC's Dennis Bouanga (7.27%), FC Cincinnati's Evander (4.78%) and Nashville SC's Sam Surridge (2.42%). Interestingly, Messi received only 55.17% of the player votes.
Messi previously won the "Golden Boot" and was named to the All-Star Team.