Messi excels at Club World Cup dress rehearsal - Galaxy win for the first time

With a furious 5-1 victory over Columbus Crew, Inter Miami warmed up for the Club World Cup – with Lionel Messi leading the way. Los Angeles Galaxy also finally had some celebration.

Unstoppable against Columbus: Lionel Messi (right). IMAGO/Imagn Images

The dress rehearsal for the Club World Cup couldn't have been more successful for Inter Miami. Two weeks before their opening match against Al-Ahly from Cairo, Lionel Messi and his team thrashed former MLS champions Columbus Crew 5-1. And once again, "La Pulga" was unstoppable.

After assisting Tadeo Allende's opening goal (13th minute), Messi scored twice himself (15th and 24th minutes) to give Inter an early 3-0 lead that held until halftime. The visitors, who had previously been one of the season's best defensive lines with 19 goals conceded, then narrowed the deficit briefly through Cesar Ruvalcaba (58th minute). Luis Suarez made it 4-1 (64th minute), and substitute Fafa Picault made it 5-1 (89th minute), with Messi first indirectly involved, then directly involved again.

The reigning world champion finished the match with a total of four points. He had already collected three in the 4-2 win against CF Montreal three days earlier. With a total of 15, he leads the MLS in points. In short: The Club World Cup is on its way for Messi – and also for Inter, which, with the two victories, has put its previous results slump behind it and jumped to third place in the Eastern Conference.

Choupo-Moting on par with Messi - Galaxy breaks spell without Reus

Meanwhile, the New York Red Bulls climbed to sixth place. Last year's finalists secured their third consecutive win with a 2-0 victory over Atlanta United . Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored his tenth goal of the season, putting him joint third in the scoring list with Messi, among others.

1-0 Allende (13')

2-0 Messi (15')

In the West, Los Angeles Galaxy celebrated their first victory in 17 appearances. The defending champions, who were without Marco Reus due to a thigh injury, prevailed 2-0 in the basement clash against Real Salt Lake thanks to goals from Lucas Sanabria (17th) and Joseph Paintsil (55th), but remain far behind in last place.