Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez lead Inter Miami past Montreal

Luis Suárez and Lionel Messi each finished with two goals and an assist to lead host Inter Miami to a 4-2 victory over Montreal on Wednesday night in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Inter Miami (7-3-5, 26 points) secured a win for only the second time in its past nine matches across all competitions. It also ended a four-match winless streak in MLS play to move up to sixth in the Eastern Conference.

"Obviously, we talked about yesterday in the press conference that we needed to change the negative dynamic," head coach Javier Mascherano said after the game. "I had very good feelings about the players in that second half against Philadelphia [a 3-3 draw on Saturday], not only because of the result, but also because you always have to compare who you are against a rival who is fighting, who was in the lead position of our conference.

"So, now I'm happy for the victory, I'm happy because, for the good moments of the game, the team played again to what we are used to."

Last-place Montreal (1-10-5, 8 points) lost for the second time in its past three matches.

Suárez had not scored since Miami's last victory on May 3 and had only two goals in MLS matches this season. He doubled that total with back-to-back tallies in the 68th and 71st minutes, which proved key for Miami.

"The most important thing is to win again," Suarez said after the match. "We were coming off a losing streak, for which we had to take responsibility for the results, and well, this is about correcting that, winning, and getting back to being the team we were."

Suárez's first goal was set up by a brilliant play by Messi, who controlled possession near the end line and drew a defender before looping a ball to a wide-open Suárez in front of the goal.

Suárez comfortably fired a shot past Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois.

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Three minutes later, Suárez came racing in and intercepted a ball that was controlled poorly by Montreal's George Campbell, and fired another shot past Sirois to give Inter Miami a 3-0 edge.

Montreal's Dante Sealy spoiled Miami's clean sheet when he tapped one home past Inter Miami keeper Oscar Ustari in the 74th minute off a feed from Caden Clark. It was Sealy's second goal of the season.

But Messi ended Montreal's slim hopes of a comeback when he fired in a close-range shot off a precise cross from Suárez in the 87th minute.

Messi delivered his first goal in the 27th minute when Sergio Busquets dropped the ball to him near the box. The World Cup winner worked the ball to the top of the box and fired a long-distance shot past Sirois.

Mascherano praised Messi as he usually does after most Miami games, but he also made special mention of his other veteran striker Suarez.

"As for Luis, I am very happy for him. He has so many goals in his career. Sometimes he doesn't have the chance to play a few games without scoring," Mascherano said. "I think that must be strange. But there's another part of Luis, the effort, the desire and never tries to put his arms down. That is also very important when it comes to impacting the team. Hopefully they can continue with this dynamic."

Sealy earned an assist, along with Fernando Álvarez on Montreal's second goal by Victor Loturi, which came in the second minute of stoppage time.

Inter Miami's victory came at a cost as a squad already playing without midfielder Yannick Bright, had three starters -- Jordi Alba, Gonzalo Lujan and Tomas Aviles -- all leave the game in the first half because of injuries.

Information from Field Level Media was used in this report.