Lionel Messi comes away empty-handed once again with Inter Miami. The Argentine misses out on the Champions Cup final. His old arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo also lost in the semi-final with Al-Nassr.
01.05.2025, 16:08
dpa
For superstar Lionel Messi, there will be no major club title on the American continent again. For the 37-year-old Argentinian world champion and his club Inter Miami, the semi-finals of the Champions Cup are the end of the line. In the counterpart to the European Champions League in North and Central America, Miami also lost the second leg against the Vancouver Whitecaps 3:1 and thus missed out on a place in the final. Inter had lost the first leg 2-0 in Vancouver, Canada.
Miami made a promising start to the comeback. Jordi Alba scored in the 9th minute to make it 1:0 after an assist from Messi, but the Canadians turned the game around in the second half. A brace from Brian White (51') and Pedro Vite (53') and a third goal from Sebastian Berhalter (71') put an end to Messi's dream of a first international club title with Inter. Last season, Miami were eliminated in the quarter-finals against CF Monterrey from Mexico.
The Vancouver Whitecaps, superior leaders in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS), are in the final of the Champions Cup for the first time. Their opponents in the final on June 1 will be the winner of the all-Mexican semi-final between Cruz Azul and UANL Tigres. After a 1-1 draw in the first leg, the decisive match will take place this Friday.
Ronaldo also misses out on a title
Messi's long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo must also bury his dream of winning the Champions League in Asia this season. With his Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr, the 40-year-old Portuguese lost 3:2 to Kawasaki Frontale from Japan in the semi-final in Jeddah.
Particularly bitter: in the 95th minute, CR7 could have saved his team in extra time - the goalkeeper had already been outplayed, but the usually unerring striker failed to hit the ball properly.
At the end of the game, the five-time World Cup winner talked to himself in the center circle. "Sometimes dreams have to wait. I'm proud of the team and everything we gave on the pitch," Ronaldo wrote on X.
In the final, again at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Japanese team will face Al Ahly from the host country this Saturday.
