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Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi will lead his team in Saturday’s MLS Cup final, aiming to cap his transformative influence by winning the club’s first league title.
Two years on from his arrival in Florida, the Argentine star stands on the verge of delivering the domestic title Miami have sought since joining Major League Soccer as an expansion team in 2020.
After an uneven start to the campaign, the 38-year-old has inspired a sensational surge through the play-offs, with Miami scoring 17 goals in five matches to reach the final in electrifying fashion.
However, standing between Messi and another major trophy is a Vancouver team brimming with confidence, led by German veteran Thomas Müller, who has sharpened their attack since joining in August.
The final at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale will feature four World Cup winners, with Messi joined by teammates Sergio Busquets and Rodrigo De Paul, while Müller represents Germany’s victorious 2014 squad.
Despite the star billing, Müller has been keen to dismiss the idea that the match is a personal duel between himself and Messi, insisting instead that it is a battle between two highly competitive teams.
Only a few months ago, Miami’s presence in the final seemed highly unlikely.
In April, Javier Mascherano’s ageing squad looked to be running out of steam after managing just two wins in eight matches.
That gloomy period included a crushing 5-1 aggregate defeat by Vancouver in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, prompting fierce criticism from pundits who accused the side of lacking energy, balance and defensive stability.
Since then, the transformation has been striking.
The arrival of De Paul has added strength and athleticism in midfield, while Mascherano’s decision to bench the experienced Luis Suárez in favour of teenage forward Mateo Silvetti has injected pace and urgency into the attack.
The result has been a revitalised team playing with renewed belief.
Vancouver manager Jesper Sørensen has refused to place much importance on his team’s earlier dominance over Miami, suggesting those games feel like a distant memory.
He said the final represents a fresh contest, with both sides approaching the match in their own way, and stressed that only what happens on Saturday will matter.
Messi, who has been relatively reserved in public during his time in the United States, said in an interview that playing at home could give Miami a key advantage.
He admitted the team experienced periods of inconsistency during the season but maintained that their performances in front of their own supporters remained strong.
He added that the squad now feels united and confident at just the right moment.
Awaiting Messi, though, is a familiar adversary in Müller. The former Bayern Munich forward is one of the few players to boast a positive record against the Argentine, having been on the winning side in seven of their ten meetings.
Those encounters include Germany’s victory over Argentina in the 2014 World Cup final and Bayern’s ruthless demolition of Barcelona in the Champions League in 2020.
Müller said he remembers those clashes fondly but insisted they are irrelevant to the final. While he values the experiences of the past, he stressed that Saturday’s match is entirely separate, with a new story waiting to be written
