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Lionel Messi continued his historic Major League Soccer scoring run Saturday, netting two goals for the fifth game in a row to lift Inter Miami to a 2-1 victory over Nashville.

Just days after he became the first player to score multiple goals in four straight MLS matches, Messi did it again as Miami continued their climb up the Eastern Conference standings after their league hiatus for the Club World Cup.

Messi, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a trademark left-foot free-kick, which found the only gap in Nashville’s defensive wall to go past goalkeeper Joe Willis.

Miami dominated in the first half but just four minutes after half-time, Hany Mukhtar’s header pulled Nashville level.

Messi grabbed the winner in the 62nd minute when he capitalized on a bad mistake from Willis, who misjudged a pass to tee up the Argentine for the strike.

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The two goals — on the heels of his two in a 2-1 win over New England on Wednesday — took Messi’s total to 16 in 16 appearances this season, tied with Nashville’s Sam Surridge, who was unable to add to his tally of 16 on Saturday.

“There are not many words. It’s incredible what he keeps doing, breaking records now every three days, not even every weekend,” Miami coach Javier Mascherano said.

“He is the standard-bearer of our team that shows us the way to compete. He is the leader.

“It’s a blessing for me to accompany this stage of his career.”

Miami were playing their third match since returning to MLS action in the wake of a month-long Club World Cup campaign that ended when they were eliminated in the last 16 by Paris Saint-Germain.

With 38 points from 19 matches, they are in fifth place in the East, five points behind leaders Philadelphia with three games in hand.

Philadelphia went top with a 2-0 victory over New York Red Bulls, Indiana Vassilev and Bruno Damiani delivering the goals.

Cincinnati slipped to second in the East on 42 points after falling 4-2 to Columbus. Nashville and Columbus both have 41 points.

Miami’s jam-packed schedule continues Wednesday against Cincinnati, with the New York Red Bulls coming up next weekend.

Mascherano knows he will have to find time to give the 38-year-old Messi some rest.

“At some point we are going to have to find a space to give him some rest, we are going to talk about it day by day,” he said.

“He is feeling good and when we think it is time to give him some rest, we will do it.”

Liberia’s president was “honoured” to meet US counterpart Donald Trump this week and wasn’t offended by Trump’s comment about his fluency in English — his mother tongue — Liberia’s foreign minister said on Friday.

The US president’s comment has even inspired a catchy tribute song in the West African country.

Trump praised President Joseph Boakai on Wednesday for his English-speaking skills, apparently unaware that English is the official language of Liberia.

Responding to remarks Boakai made at a White House mini-summit of the presidents of five mineral-rich countries in West Africa, the US leader said, “Such good English… Where were you educated?”

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Boakai — who, like most Liberians, speaks English as a first language — laughed uncomfortably and replied he had been educated in his home country.

“We were honoured by the White House’s invitation to President Boakai for a meeting with President Trump and fellow African leaders. No offence was taken,” Liberian Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti told AFP on Friday evening.

She said Liberia was keen to strengthen ties with the United States, “built on mutual respect”.

Liberia is the oldest republic in sub-Saharan Africa.

It was founded in 1822 when the American Colonisation Society, funded by the US Congress and slaveholders, began sending freed slaves to its shores.

Thousands of “Americo-Liberian” settlers followed.

They declared independence in 1847 and set up a government to rule over the native African majority.

English is the official language and the most widely used throughout the country.

English King Of Africa

In response to Trump’s faux pas, singer and former cultural ambassador Queen Juli Endee penned a song in tribute to Boakai.

“We salute JNB, our black president, Beautiful English King of Africa,” she and her band sang in a video widely shared on social media.

The clip shows them waving US flags and wearing T-shirts bearing the images of Boakai and Trump.

Liberians, meanwhile, voiced mixed reactions.

Shadrach Johnson, unemployed, welcomed the fact that Boakai had been among the small number of African leaders invited to the summit.

“He went there and spoke on behalf of the Liberian people. It’s progress,” he told AFP.

But street trader Patience Allison said Trump had insulted her head of state and sought to provoke.

“For him to ask that question, it is almost like you are making fun. He was really making fun of our president,” she said.