Messi's Inter Miami eliminated by Vancouver Whitecaps in Champions Cup semis

(AFP) Lionel Messi's Inter Miami suffered a painful elimination in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup on Wednesday as they lost 3-1 to Vancouver Whitecaps in the second leg (5-1 on aggregate).

Spanish defender Jordi Alba opened the scoring in the 9th minute, sparking the Miami crowd's hopes of overturning the 2-0 deficit from the first leg, but Vancouver turned the score around with goals from American Brian White (51') and Sebastian Berhalter (71') and Ecuadorian Pedro Vite (53').

The Canadian team will play its first Champions Cup final on June 1 against the winner of the other semifinal between Mexico's Tigres and Cruz Azul, who tied 1-1 in the first leg.

This elimination is a blow to Inter, eager to win international titles in the last year of Messi's contract.

The Champions Cup was marked as a major goal for this season for Inter Miami, which is also aiming to win its first MLS title and do well at the FIFA Club World Cup.

The first of these challenges went up in smoke on Wednesday in a semifinal in which Miami were clearly inferior to Vancouver, which celebrated the biggest success in their 14-year history.

"Although it was the first time the club had advanced to the semifinals, this defeat hurts us a lot," Inter coach Javier Mascherano acknowledged.

We wanted "to see this team, which has a short history, for the first time in a final of CONCACAF's most important competition," admitted the Argentine. "It was to position ourselves in an important place as a club. But we have to accept that the rival plays, has hierarchy and overcame us."