FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — All the concern about Lionel Messi’s fatigue, the second-guessing about the 24,000-mile global preseason tour, the skeptics questioning Luis Suarez and his 37-year-old aching knees, all of it melted away Saturday as Inter Miami rolled over rival Orlando City, 5-0, for the most lopsided win in club history.

Suarez quieted the critics with a pair of clinical finishes for two goals in the first 11 minutes and added two assists, one to Robert Taylor in the first half and another to his good friend Messi, who headed home the fifth goal, putting an exclamation point on the night.

Messi also scored in the 57th minute, an awkward body shot that trickled in from close range after a goal-line clearance off the crossbar.

Suarez, the Uruguayan forward and latest of Messi’s former Barcelona teammates to join Inter Miami, had scored 381 goals for his clubs over 19 seasons, but had not scored yet for Miami. On Saturday, with the help of two perfectly placed Julian Gressel assists, Suarez did what Suarez does.

“I am very happy for him that he was able to convert his chances,” Messi said of Suarez in a post-game interview with Apple TV. “We were still calm because we know who Luis is and what he is capable of. He is like that. When you least expect it, he can define a game, like he did for us with goals and assists.”

As for the result, Messi called it “the complete game.” He added: “We knew we had to come out with intensity because Orlando comes out with a lot of fight, they wait for you and then come out fast on the counterattack. We were lucky to get the first goal and that changes the entire game.

“We are doing well, enjoying ourselves, growing. Today was an important game to win, to continue on that path of growth and this has to make us very strong for everything that is to come. We are aware of the pressure on us, we know team we put together and we prepare to try to fight for the MLS. We know that it is a long road, that this is just beginning.”

Coach Tata Martino called it the best game the team has played since he took over last summer, especially against a rival he respects as much as he does Orlando.

With the win, Miami remained atop the MLS Eastern Conference with two wins and a tie and an 8-1 goal differential.

Orlando’s mascot is the lion, but it was the home crowd of 21,352 pink and black-clad fans, most of them in Lionel Messi No. 10 jerseys, doing all the roaring on Saturday.

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