Inter Miami fell to a fourth defeat in five games as Minnesota United earned a memorable 4-1 victory over Lionel Messi and company in MLS on Saturday.

Minnesota first had the ball in the net in the 12th minute, but Bongokuhle Hlongwane's composed one-on-one finish was disallowed as he had strayed offside when taking in Joaquin Pereyra's pass.

But they did inch ahead 20 minutes later as Carlos Harvey threaded a clever pass into the box for Hlongwane, who swivelled to finish across goal.

The Loons had their second in first-half stoppage time, as Michael Boxall's long throw was helped across goal for Anthony Markanich to nod home.

Miami were back in the contest just three minutes into the second half, as Messi took a wonderful touch from Jordi Alba's cross before finishing across goal and into the bottom-right corner. 

But two more Minnesota goals in the space of two minutes killed any hope of a Miami fightback. The first was a comical own goal from Marcelo Weigandt in the 68th minute, as he headed Tani Oluwaseyi's flick-on past Oscar Ustari.

And Minnesota's fourth goal was the pick of the bunch as Robin Lod curled a lovely left-footed effort into the bottom-left corner from outside the box, clinching back-to-back wins for the hosts.

Miami have now lost two of their last three games in MLS, having also exited the CONCACAF Champions Cup with a 5-1 aggregate defeat to the Vancouver Whitecaps.

They are fourth in the Eastern Conference, three points off the summit, while Minnesota are second in the Western Conference with only Vancouver above them.

Data debrief: Miami suffer rare away defeat

Miami's loss was just their second in their last 19 away regular-season matches dating back to last season, while it also snapped their nine-game unbeaten streak on the road.

Minnesota, meanwhile, have now won their last two home matches against Eastern Conference opponents (also beating CF Montreal in March), having failed to win any of their previous nine such games.

Eric Ramsay's side have only lost one of their last 11 regular-season matches following a season-opening defeat to Los Angeles FC (six wins, four draws).