LIVE UPDATE: Messi did not start Inter Miami vs. New England, Suarez brace, 2-2 halftime

Lionel Messi watched from the bench in the first half as his Inter Miami teammate and close friend Luis Suarez scored a pair of goals in the span of three minutes to rally the home team and send them into halftime knotted 2-2 with the New England Revolution.

The 37-year-old Uruguayan legend continues to impress, despite his aching knees, as he brought his season total to 20 goals, three shy of Golden Boot leader Christian Benteke of D.C. United. Suarez said Friday that he would like to return to Inter Miami for a second season and confirmed that his agent is in talks with the club about extending his contract, which expires in December.

He certainly showed on Saturday that he has not lost a step.

His first goal came at the 40-minute mark, when he collected a cross from David Martinez and left-footed a shot form the center of the box to the bottom left corner. His second came three minutes later, a powerful blast with his right foot off a pass from Yannick Bright.

He electrified the Chase Stadium crowd, which was deflated and had begun chanting “Messi! Messi!” after the Revolution took a 2-0 lead. He also kept alive Miami’s goal of breaking the MLS season points record, which it would do with a win on Saturday.

The Revolution stunned crowd with a goal by Luca Langoni in the second minute to put the visitors up 1-0, and Dylan Borrero doubled the lead at the 34-minute mark after a rare blunder by Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender, who let the ball go between his legs.

Langoni got behind Miami center back Martinez, who perhaps was a bit rusty, as he returned to the lineup after missing several games with a groin injury. Martinez redeemed himself with the assist to Suarez.

Messi is expected to come off the bench, as coach Tata Martino wanted to give him some rest after returning from national team duty. Messi is coming off a hat trick and a pair of assists against Bolivia, and Martino said he wants to make sure he is in peak form for the start of the playoffs Oct. 25.

Midfielder Diego Gomez was also on the bench after playing for Paraguay during the FIFA break. Otherwise, the rest of the regular starters were in the lineup. Callender started at goalkeeper; Chelo Weigandt, Jordi Alba, Martinez, and Tomas Aviles started on the back line; Bright, Sergio Busquets, Julian Gressel, Robert Taylor and Benja Cremaschi were the midfielders; and Suarez started at forward.

Coming off the bench alongside Messi and Gomez were Leo Campana, Ian Fray, Sergiy Kryvtsov, Noah Allen, Franco Negri, Lawson Sunderland and Cole Jensen.

Inter Miami already clinched the Supporters’ Shield and the top seed in the playoffs, and wanted to add the points record to their list of achievements. Entering the game, Miami had 71 points, two points shy of record-holder New England, which set the record with 73 points in 2021.

While that would be a bonus for an already successful season, it was not worth risking injury to players who were coming off national team duty, Martino said in the leadup to the game.

“It is an important game because we have been setting goals all season and this is one that was not in our plans from the start, but now that it’s within reach, we will try to achieve it,” Martino said. “But, of course, our main focus is on next Friday [the start of the playoffs]. So, with that in mind, we will analyze how much we want to play the players who just returned from their national teams, which includes Leo [Messi].”

The game is being billed as Fan Appreciation Night and there will be a Supporters’ Shield ceremony on the field immediately after the game with speeches from club executives and an opportunity for fans to get photos of the team with the award.

New England, meanwhile, was determined to keep the record.

“We are going to be a part of history one way or another,” Revolution coach Caleb Porter said on Tuesday. “We are going to be a part of their history winning the highest point total in a season, or we are going to stop that from happening, which is what our goal is. Obviously, it won’t be easy, but we owe it to the 2021 team that set that record to do everything we can to not let that record be taken.”

New England (9-20-4) has the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference and is not in playoff contention. The Revolution has just one win in its past nine games and is coming off a 4-0 loss to the defending MLS champion Columbus Crew.

The Revolution starters: Aljaz Ivacic, Dave Romney, Xavier Arreaga, William Sands, Brandon Bye, Dylan Borrero, Matt Polster, Alhassan Yusuf, Giacomo Vrioni, Esmir Bajraktarevic, Luca Langoni.