Lionel Messi is 38 years old. Inter Miami’s schedule is jam-packed. People have been wondering if he is going to take a break.

So far, the answer is no.

The Argentine captain was back in the starting lineup against the New England Revolution Wednesday night, played the full 95 minutes and made a huge impact, scoring twice in the first 37 minutes in a 2-1 road victory.

His first goal came at the 27-minute mark when he pounced on the ball and made a clinical finish after a New England defensive miscue in the 18-yard box. Then, 11 minutes later, Sergio Busquets found Messi in stride with a long through ball and the Argentine icon launched a left-footed shot from outside the box to the bottom right corner.

Messi was coming off a two-goal game against Montreal that earned him MLS Player of the Week honors. He has scored a brace in four consecutive MLS games, becoming the first player in league history to score multiple goals over a four-game stretch.

Whenever Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano is asked whether Messi might sit out a game, he says that Messi is happiest on the field and if he is fit to play, he will play.

Mascherano rested just one regular starter on Wednesday night as his team tried to gain ground in the MLS standings.

Messi, Luis Suarez, Busquets and Jordi Alba were all in the Starting XI at Gillette Stadium in front of a large, spirited crowd.

The rest of the Miami starters were Oscar Ustari, Marcelo Weigandt, Toto Aviles, Maxi Falcon, Tadeo Allende, Fede Redondo and midfielder Baltasar Rodriguez, who celebrated his 22nd birthday by making his first start since joining the team this season.

The only two changes from the lineup for Miami’s 4-1 win at Montreal Saturday were Rodriguez in place of Telasco Segovia and Redondo instead of Benja Cremaschi. Redondo and Cremaschi have been rotating regularly.

Rodriguez is on loan from Racing Club of Argentina. Injuries hampered his first few months with Inter Miami, but he replaced Segovia in the 72nd minute against Montreal and got another chance to show what he can do on Wednesday night. He played 62 minutes before being subbed out and replaced by Segovia.

“Baltasar is a player whom we know well [from the Argentine youth national team] and can play many positions,” Mascherano said on Tuesday. “He can play on the outside, inside, behind the No. 9 [forward], so he gives you different options.

“He arrived after a season when he didn’t have much playing time or continuity at Racing and he had some injuries. We were able to give him some minutes the other day and now we can integrate him into the team.”

Carles Gil scored the lone goal for New England in the 79th minute, the only one to get by Ustari, who made a few big saves and appeared to get injured in the second half.

Inter Miami moved up from sixth place to fifth in the Eastern Conference with the victory and is seven points behind first-place Cincinnati and six behind Nashville. Miami has played three fewer games than its rivals ahead of them in the standings, so it aims to continue gaining ground in the coming weeks.

After the game against New England, Miami plays at home Saturday against second-place Nashville, then plays on the road at Cincinnati, on the road at New York Red Bulls, and at home against Cincinnati.

There was some question as to whether Messi and/or Suarez might rest against New England, but Mascherano said before the game:

“I always say the same thing; we’re going to put out the best possible 11. My idea isn’t to make a lot of rotations, because I think that doing so disrupts the team too much. In the end, many of the guys, even if you don’t change too much within a team, aren’t used to playing together, so it’s like throwing a problem at the players. So, there will be a few changes to freshen things up, but we’ll try to keep the core of the team the same.”

Still missing as they recover from injuries were Yannick Bright, David Ruiz, Gonzalo Lujan, Drake Callender, Noah Allen and Ian Fray.

The Revolution lineup included former Inter Miami forward Leo Campana, has scored two goals in 12 games this season. The rest of the New England starters were Aljaz Ivacic, Mamadou Fofana, Tanner Beason, Brayan Ceballos, Alhassan Yusuf, Matt Polster, Gil, Peyton Miller, Brandon Bye and Luca Langoni.

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