Lionel Messi scored twice on his first Inter Miami start – and even had a new celebration for David Beckham.

Messi got his Inter Miami off to a dream start on his debut, scoring a free-kick deep into injury-time to beat Cruz Azul 2-1 in the first match of their Leagues Cup group.

A few days later, the Argentine was handed his first start as Inter Miami took on Atlanta in the same cup competition.

And he added a further two goals to his tally as Inter Miami thrashed their opponents 4-0.

It took Messi just eight minutes of his first start to open the scoring.

The Barcelona legend was sent through on goal by his former Camp Nou teammate, Sergio Busquets, with a beautiful chipped through ball. Messi found himself in acres of space as he took his time and dragged his left foot effort past the goalkeeper.

He was unfortunate to see it hit the foot of the post but fortunate enough that it bounced back straight to him as he rolled the ball into the back of the net with his right foot.

VIDEO: Lionel Messi puts Inter Miami 1-0 up

Thirteen minutes later and Inter Miami were 2-0 up – and Messi had bagged a brace.

The 36-year-old picked the ball up on the halfway line and the opposition defenders backed away in fear. Messi kept running before playing the ball out wide to Robert Taylor. Taylor pulled the ball back first time perfectly for Messi to run onto and tap the ball home with his right foot again.

Brilliant.

VIDEO: Lionel Messi puts Inter Miami 2-0 up

After scoring one of his goals, Messi was also seen producing a new celebration.

The Argentine doesn’t exactly have a trademark celebration – although he’s often seen wheeling away with both arms outstretched.

However, he appeared to have a pre-planned celebration after scoring – and it’s claimed it was aimed at owner David Beckham

Once his teammates had left him to return to their own half ready for the restart, Messi stood still and held out his hand.

It looked very much like the Darth Vader force choke from Star Wars.

Beckham could be seen smiling back at his new superstar.

VIDEO: Messi has a new celebration for David Beckham

Inter Miami went on to win the match 4-0 thanks to two further goals from Taylor – who assisted Messi’s second goal. Messi returned the favour with an assist of his own for the fourth goal.

Messi and Busquets have transformed Inter Miami’s fortunes

Considering Atlanta are an MLS side, it was a fantastic result for Inter Miami.

Inter Miami had met Atlanta on 10 previous occasions, winning four of them. All of those wins had come by a single goal, too.

But with Messi and Busquets in their side, they absolutely blew away their opponents with ease.

Inter Miami currently sit bottom out of 15 in their Eastern Conference with Atlanta up in 7th. But there’s real hope that Inter Miami can start climbing the table with their new arrivals.

Apple TV’s lead analyst, Taylor Twellman, believes the impact of Messi and Busquets is ‘unbelievable’.

“I figured out pretty quickly why Lionel Messi will only go some place if Busquets comes with him,” Twellman said. “It’s ridiculous. It’s not even a secret, and they still pull it off.