Lionel Messi and Inter Miami suffer humiliating defeat to exit 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup

Lionel Messi and Inter Miami eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions Cup

By Emmanuel Akyereko

(Managing Editor)

Lionel Messi couldn’t come to the rescue of Inter Miami in the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup as Vancouver Whitecaps handed them a 3-1 defeat to kick them out of the competition on Wednesday.

The Argentina captain walked off the Chase Stadium field in Fort Lauderdale looking dejected as the Canadian side progress to the final with a 5-1 aggregate triumph.

Messi and his aging former Barcelona teammates – Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, and Luis Suarez failed to overturn the deficit from the first-leg before an expectant home crowd.

Javier Mascherano, the manager for Inter Miami – who is also Messi’s former teammate at Barcelona and Argentina national team dressing room mate could do little to change the fate of his side.

Jordi Alba gave his side hope when he turned home a Suarez assist to carve the opening goal in the 9th minute.

However, Brian White pecked the scoring for the Canadian Super League side 6 minutes after the break.

It wasn’t long before the entire stadium turned into a quiet atmosphere with Pedro Vite scoring in the 53rd minute.

Sebastian Berhalter sealed to win for Whitecaps to end the fate of Inter Miami in the competition.