Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi secured his second consecutive MLS Golden Boot award on Saturday after the defending champions finished second in the Eastern Conference following a wasteful 3-3 draw with Charlotte on the final day of the regular season.

The Argentine superstar did not score but set up the first two goals at Miami’s Nu Stadium, both from corners, helping his club secure home-field advantage for the first two playoff rounds.

Messi’s 26 goals this season made him the first back-to-back MLS Golden Boot winner. Petar Musa of Dallas finished second on 22, failing to score in his club’s 3-1 home victory over Colorado.

Ian Fray, Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul fired three first-half goals for Inter Miami before Liel Abada’s brace shortly after the break sparked a comeback sealed by Rodolfo Aloko’s late strike.

Runaway overall leaders Nashville broke the all-time MLS single-season points record with a whopping 77 after beating Cincinnati 2-0. At 23-3 with eight draws, Nashville won the East and surpassed the mark of 74 points set by Miami in 2024.

Miami finished second in the East on 60 points as third-place New England failed to capitalise on Inter’s draw, suffering a surprise 1-0 loss at Orlando to end on 58.

Messi’s men will face Columbus to begin the MLS playoffs. Other East matchups pit New England against Philadelphia, Charlotte against Chicago, and top seed Nashville against the wild-card winner, Orlando or Cincinnati.

Columbus took advantage of the Cincinnati loss with a 4-3 victory at Chicago to finish seventh and avoid the wild card round.

At Miami, Messi’s 14th-minute corner fell unexpectedly to Charlotte’s Luca de la Torre, who spooned it up for Fray to open the scoring.

Another Messi corner in the 33rd minute found Suarez wide open at the near post. The Uruguayan glanced in his header for 2-0.

De Paul made it three before halftime, but Abada pulled back a goal for the visitors early and bagged a second in the 55th minute.

In the 90th, Aloko grabbed the equaliser, responding first to the ball as Smalls’s shot ricocheted off the post.

A visibly frustrated Messi hit the post in stoppage time before Aloko came inches from snatching an unlikely winner with a thunderous shot into the outside netting.

Western Conference champion Vancouver beat Canadian rivals Montreal 2-0 to finish second overall, giving the Whitecaps a home-field edge if they should face Inter Miami in a rematch of last year’s MLS Cup final.

There were six teams fighting for the last three Western Conference playoff spots on “Decision Day” with every MLS squad in action.

Portland, Colorado and the Los Angeles Galaxy needed only to win to secure a playoff berth, but only Portland did so, the Timbers winning 2-0 at Austin while Real Salt Lake beat the Galaxy 2-1 and Colorado fell at Dallas, which allowed Real into the post-season.

Seattle claimed the other spot with a 2-1 home win over Los Angeles FC. Albert Rusnak scored in the first minute and assisted on Sebastian Gomez’s goal in the 31st for Seattle, and Eddie Segura’s response in the 82nd minute was too little, too late.

Minnesota beat visiting San Jose 3-1 but joined the Galaxy a point shy of the last-in Real Salt Lake.

Opening Western Conference playoff pairings find Vancouver against the Seattle-Salt Lake wildcard winner, Dallas against Portland, LAFC against St. Louis, and Houston against San Jose.