Lionel Messi endured a disappointing night as Inter Miami suffered a 3-1 defeat at home to Vancouver Whitecaps to crash out of the Concacaf Champions win the semi-final.
The hosts failed to improve their performance after losing the first leg 2-0, the Canadian side ran out 5-1 winners in aggregate to book a place in the final of the competition.
Inter Miami paraded Lionel Messi, and Luis Suarez but it was Jordi Alba that opened the scoring in the ninth minute with a low effort.
Brian White, and Pedro Vite scored two quick-fire goals in the second half to give Vancouver Whitecaps a 2-1 lead.
Sebastian Berhalter completed the victory in the 71st minute to hand the visitors the final slot.
Whitecaps are currently on a nine-match unbeaten run across all competitions with 15 goals scored during the process.
Inter Miami have now lost their last two matches in all competitions to put pressure on Javie Mascherano, who took over in the summer.
The former Argentina U-20 coach expressed his disappointment at the team’s failure to qualify for the final of the competition.
He said: “It hurts because we wanted to reach the final. What this group has achieved is incredible, but today that doesn’t matter much. We’re a young club, a young team, and hopefully this helps them gain experience so we can return to this competition and win it in the future.”
Mascherano admmited that he is under pressure while backing the team to bounce back from a difficult week.
He said: . “In my sporting life I’ve had more moments like this than the good ones. And even though we play to win, I enjoy the challenge of bouncing back from moments like this. We have to move forward. Right now, our main focus is MLS. I’m not even thinking about the Club World Cup yet. We still have a month and a half before that.”
Messi has won two official titles since joining Miami, the Supporters’ Shield in 2024, and the Leagues Cup in 2023.
The former Barcelona captain has scored eight goals and recorded three assists for Inter Miami in all competitions this season.
Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo both crashed out of continental competitions on the same day for their respective clubs.
