Inter Miami's Messi wins MLS MVP award

Lionel Messi's Inter Miami won the MLS Supporters' Shield in October

Argentine superstar Lionel Messi has won Major League Soccer's Most Valuable Player award.

The former Barcelona and Paris-St Germain forward helped Inter Miami to a record regular season points tally, before his side were beaten in the first round of the MLS Cup play-offs in November.

The 37-year-old had a league-leading 36 goal contributions, scoring 20 goals and creating 16 assists.

The award comes despite injuries limiting Messi to just 19 regular season and two play-off appearances for Miami this year.

The league's MVP is chosen by players, club technical staff and journalists. Messi received 38.43% of votes, beating Colombus Crew's Cucho Hernandez who got 33.7%.

The award, officially known as the Landon Donovan MLS MVP, has previously been won by former United States midfielder Donavon, Republic of Ireland's Robbie Keane and Spain's David Villa.