Lionel Messi was in the starting lineup for Inter Miami against the New England Revolution on Saturday night, which was welcome news to the record crowd of 65,612 that bought tickets to see the Argentine icon at Gillette Stadium. He delivered two goals and an assist as the men in pink trounced the Revs, 4-1.

Another Argentine player briefly stole the show 37 seconds into the game. Revolution winger Tomas Chancalay scored to give the home team a 1-0 lead. Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender strayed far from his line and Chancalay took advantage, knocking it into the net.

Then, as he has done so many times since joining Miami last summer, Messi came to the rescue. He scored the equalizing goal with his trusty left foot in the 32nd minute off a Robert Taylor assist and delivered the game winner midway through the second half, receiving a perfect pass from Sergio Busquets.

Messi has scored a league-best nine goals in seven games this season. He also has a league-high seven assists.

Key Biscayne teenager Benjamin Cremaschi, who missed the first 12 games after sports hernia surgery, scored the third Miami goal after coming in as a late sub. He pounced on a rebound off a Messi shot after newly-signed Matias Rojas kept the ball in play along the goal line.

Then Luis Suarez, also late game sub, made it four goals for Miami, slotting in a ball he he received from Messi after a nifty back-heel pass from Cremaschi.

Inter Miami remains in first place in the MLS Eastern Conference with 21 points on six wins, two losses and three ties. Miami has scored a league-high 26 goals.

Miami has a habit of giving up early goals, and did it again, gifting a goal to last-place New England, the lowest-scoring team in MLS with just five goals in eight games before Saturday.

Suarez began the game on the Miami bench, replaced by Leo Campana, who returned from a hamstring injury that ruled him out the past few games. Taylor also returned from injury and started in place of Diego Gomez, who suffered a high ankle sprain against Nashville and is expected to be out six weeks.

The rest of Miami’s Starting XI included: Callender, Busquets, Tomas Aviles, Nico Freire, Julian Gressel, Franco Negri, David Ruiz and Chelo Weigandt.

Suarez entered the game in the 63rd minute, replacing Campana. Cremaschi replaced Julian Gressel late in the second half and Taylor was replaced by Paraguayan midfielder Matias Rojas, who joined the team this week.

There was some question as to whether Messi and Suarez would subject their aging legs to artificial turf; but Inter Miami coach Tata Martino put that concern to rest on Friday morning.

“The players are all available, all the healthy players will travel, and then we’ll see the formation to face New England,” Martino said. “We already played on artificial turf in Charlotte last season and there was no problem.”

Messi played the full 90 minutes against Charlotte in that game. He has played at Gillette before, when he scored during Argentina’s 4-1 win over Venezuela in the 2016 Copa America Centenario quarterfinals. But that game was played on a temporary grass field that was placed over the turf, per FIFA rules.

Revolution coach Caleb Porter, calling Saturday’s match “the biggest game in Boston soccer history,” expected Messi to play.

“That’s our mindset, that he will play,” Porter said earlier this week. “They haven’t played on turf this year, but he played last year in Charlotte. So, our mindset is that he is going to play.”

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