New Delhi, Oct. 25 -- Lionel Messi raised the Golden Boot. He then got Inter Miami started with his head.

Messi opened the scoring with a diving header in the first half, then capped the scoring in the 96th minute as Inter Miami opened the Major League Soccer playoffs with a 3-1 win over Nashville SC in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference best-of-three first-round series on Friday night.

Messi and Ian Fray had the assists on Tadeo Allende's second-half tally for Inter Miami, which now gets two chances to advance out of the first round for the first time in Messi's 2 1/2-year tenure with the team. Game 2 is at Nashville on Nov. 1. Game 3, if necessary, would in Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 8.

Hany Mukhtar got Nashville's goal off a free kick ...