FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Best player. Best team. Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi is the unquestioned force in Major League Soccer right now, on a run like nobody else the league has ever seen.

The 38-year-old Argentine star — and captain of the MLS Cup champions — has become the first back-to-back MVP in MLS history, getting announced Tuesday as this year’s winner of the league’s top individual honor.

Messi — thanking his teammates and saying he couldn't have won the award without them — accepted the trophy at the opening ceremony of his Messi Cup youth tournament, which kicked off Tuesday. That's why the award announcement was delayed until after the season; Messi wanted kids to be part of it.

“He’s a unicorn, man — not just for what he does on the field,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said

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