No repeat of Lionel Messi fiasco! Inter Miami sent 'better bring your best team' warning from MLS & CONCACAF Champions Cup rivals Vancouver Whitecaps

The Herons are counting down the days to a CONCACAF Champions Cup semi-final showdown with opponents from Canada. They will be facing the Whitecaps on April 24 away from home, before a return date heads to South Florida on May 1.

With major silverware beginning to fall within reach, eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi is expected to figure prominently throughout a continental clash. Vancouver natives are certainly hoping that he does, having seen the Argentine left at home alongside Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez for a MLS fixture in 2024.

Whitecaps CEO Axel Schuster has told the Vancouver Sun: |I know that there was huge frustration from everyone who bought a ticket, and I totally get that. And I would have felt the same way. It’s absolutely okay if they vented on us… because we understood that there was nothing we could have done better and nothing we could have done differently, because it was purely a decision of (Miami).

"What this club, and I mean every employee, and especially our team, is doing this year, is unbelievable. This is not one of 34 regular season games. This is the semi-final of the Champions League. For that, we have fought so hard, we eliminated two Mexican teams. No other MLS team has done that. I have a recommendation for Miami - you better bring your best team, because otherwise you might not make the final, and I wouldn’t be sad about that."

Vancouver saw off Mexican outfit Pumas in the quarter-finals and believe that they have what it takes to claim the notable scalp of Messi and Co. Schuster added: "The commentators (for the Pumas match) said, ‘Look, you cheer a little bit for the outsider, for the underdog … the Vancouver Whitecaps are the best team in the league, so they’re not really an underdog in this game’.

"It’s not only me saying that. There were a few other guys who have been here today in Chicago from the league that said, ‘You guys, you really can beat everyone in this league.’ So Miami better bring the best team. But if not, that’s not my problem."

The Whitecaps, who have suffered only one loss through seven MLS fixtures this season, currently sit top of the Western Conference. Inter Miami are making positive progress in the east, with Javier Mascherano’s side yet to taste defeat in a domestic fixture this term.