The New England Revolution has sold over 60,000 tickets for the club’s upcoming Major League Soccer match against Inter Miami CF on April 27 at Gillette Stadium.
Less than 5,000 tickets are still available for Lionel Messi’s highly anticipated arrival in New England.
The clash is poised to set the record for the highest-attended Revolution game. The current mark is held by the 2002 MLS Cup, when the Revolution hosted the LA Galaxy at Gillette Stadium, when 61,316 fans saw the Galaxy take a 1-0 overtime victory on Carlos Ruiz’ golden goal in the 113th minute — the last golden goal in MLS history.
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It also has the potential to become the third soccer match to ever eclipse 64,000 fans at Gillette, joining international friendlies from 2007 (67,584 for Brazil vs. Mexico friendly) and 2011 (64,121, US vs. Spain friendly).
The current record for highest attendance at a Revolution regular season match is 57,407, set on April 20, 1997, when New England hosted the Tampa Bay Mutiny in a doubleheader with a FIFA World Cup Qualifying match between Mexico and the United States.
Since Gillette opened in 2002, the best attendance for a Revolution regular season match was 42,947 on Oct. 17, 2015, a 1-0 loss to Montreal. Last season’s regular season finale nearly matched that mark, with 41,355 in the stands to watch the Revolution beat Philadelphia, 2-1, on Oct. 21.
The Revolution are coming off their best single-season average attendance in club history, with 23,940 fans per game in 2023. And this year’s Revolution home opener had 29,263 fans, the best number since the club’s inaugural home game at the old Foxborough Stadium in 1996.
The Revolution are currently 0-4-1 and last in MLS’ 15-team Eastern Conference. Miami, meanwhile, is 3-2-1, sitting second in the East, one point behind leaders Cincinnati.
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Messi, 36, has missed Inter Miami’s last two MLS matchups, as well as sitting out two recent Argentina friendlies in the U.S., because of a hamstring injury. Miami manager Tata Martino has said the goal is to have Messi healthy for Miami’s CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinal matchups with Mexico’s Monterrey on April 3 and April 10.
The Revolution are also in the Champions Cup quarterfinals. They will host the first leg at home on Tuesday, April 2, against Club América, the champions of Mexico’s Liga MX. The Revolution will travel to historic Azteca Stadium in Mexico City for the second leg on April 9.
Eli Cloutier can be reached at eli.cloutier@globe.com. Follow him @iamelicloutier.