MIAMI — Lionel Messi, awaiting the arrival of Inter Miami’s new coach Kily Gonzalez, put on a master class on Saturday night, scoring four goals to lead his team to a 7-1 rout of CF Montreal.

Messi’s brilliance at age 39 left the Nu Stadium crowd and TV spectators struggling for words to describe what he had just done. It was the seventh time in his storied career that he scored four goals and the first time since Feb. 22, 2020 when he was with FC Barcelona.

Messi now has an MLS-leading 18 goals on the season and overtook Petar Musa of FC Dallas in the Golden Boot race.

With the win, the most lopsided in Inter Miami history, the team snapped a five-game winless skid. A rainbow shined over the Inter Miami training session Friday morning, a sign that better days were ahead.

Miami got off to a promising start, taking a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute when Casemiro, who lined up as a center back, leaped above Montreal defenders and scored on a perfect header off a Telasco Segovia corner kick. It was the first MLS goal for the 34-year-old Brazilian, who joined Inter Miami from Manchester United this summer after the World Cup.

Casemiro and Messi, fierce rivals when Casemiro was at Real Madrid and Messi at Barcelona, celebrated together, a rare sight for longtime La Liga fans.

Montreal equalized at the 37-minute mark when Fabian Herbers collected a cross and scored on a low, slightly deflected shot that got past Miami’s back line and goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair. Miami’s defense has been leaky all season, giving up 41 goals, tied with Montreal for fourth-worst in the Eastern Conference.

Some boos and whistles could be heard from the crowd after the goal. But they turned to cheers three minutes later, when Messi (who else?) delivered a go-ahead goal to put Inter Miami back on top 2-1. He took a free kick from the right side of the box, Montreal’s Luca Petrasso got a foot on it, and it was redirected into the net past goalkeeper Thomas Gillier.

The score remained 2-1 at halftime. Miami dominated with 56 possession and took 10 shots, compared to three for Montreal.

Messi had more magic in his boots in the second half, dribbling through four befuddled and helpless defenders before blasting a shot from close range to make it 3-1. He had a huge smile on his face as his teammates celebrated with him.

Messi then delivered a perfectly-paced assist to Luis Suarez, who had a nice finish to make it 4-1. And Messi was not done for the night.

The Argentine legend completed a hat trick to stretch the lead to 5-1 in the 83rd minute with an assist from Rodrigo De Paul. Alexander Shaw, an 18-year-old substitute, scored his first MLS goal in the 89th minute to make it 6-1 and was swarmed by his teammates.

But the party was not over yet. A hat trick was not enough for Messi. He converted a free kick in the sixth minute of extra time to score his fourth goal of the night and put an exclamation point on the evening.

“This was an important win, it is an honor to have Messi on the team, we have to use this as a springboard for the rest of the season,” Casemiro told Apple TV on the field after the match.

Cheering from a stadium suite was Miami coach Guillermo Hoyos, whom Gonzalez replaced last Thursday. He is still officially in charge of the team until Gonzalez, a native of Argentina, gets his work permit, but was unable to be on the sideline because he was serving a one-game suspension for the team showing up to the field late for the second half in four of the previous six games.

Hoyos’ assistant coach, Rafa Perez, was on the sideline and directed the team, which came out on time after halftime.

The starting lineup had no surprises. Messi was joined by goalkeeper St. Clair, right back Ian Fray, center back Maxi Falcon, center back Casemiro, left back Noah Allen, midfielder Yannick Bright, midfielder De Paul, midfielder Segovia, left wing Suarez and German Berterame center forward.

Out injured were Gonzalo Lujan, Santi Morales, Micael, Mateo Silvetti, Sergio Reguilon and Tadeo Allende, who is out indefinitely after knee surgery.

Inter Miami had dropped 10 points behind first-place Nashville SC in the Eastern Conference standings heading into Saturday’s game but remained in second place.

Montreal was in 14th place in the East but had been energized by the arrival of Chilean star Alexis Sanchez, whose resume includes stops at Barcelona, Arsenal, Manchester United, Inter Miami, Marseilles and Sevilla. There were some Chilean flags waving from the Nu Stadium stands on Saturday greeting Sanchez, who came off the bench at the 60-minute mark.

When Inter Miami played Montreal on the road on July 25, the game was scoreless for 80 minutes before Suarez scored the lone goal for the win in the 81st minute on a penalty kick.

That goal came after Berterame left the field in an ambulance after he blacked out following a hit to the head. He remained on concussion protocol for six games and returned to the starting lineup last weekend.

“Obviously, we’re not happy,” Fray said. “We haven’t won in five games. For our standards, for anyone’s standards, that’s not great. But we’re the defending champions and we’re second in the league. We don’t feel pressure from the media. We know what we can do. We know what we’re capable of. We won the Cup last year.”

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