Vancouver Whitecaps have revealed they don’t expect Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez to travel with Inter Miami for their MLS clash this weekend.
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A club-record crowd in excess of 50,000 was expected at the Whitecaps’ BC Place stadium for their match with the Herons, which takes place at 3:30am (UK time) this Sunday.
The race to buy tickets for the match caused the Ticketmaster website to crash when the 2024 MLS fixtures were announced in January, while the cheapest tickets started from $99; a significant increase on the $34 you can usually pay to watch a Whitecaps match.
Much of the excitement was surrounding Messi and the rest of Inter Miami’s former Barcelona contingent. However, it appears now that Jordi Alba will be the only one of that group to make the trip to Canada.
Whitecaps release statement regarding Messi and Co
Whitecaps CEO Axel Schuster has released a rather apologetic statement to Whitecaps supporters and urged everyone attending to help generate an “incredible atmosphere”.
“While we haven’t received an official update on the availability of Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, and Sergio Busquets for this weekend, we understand they will not make this trip. Unfortunately, we have no control over who plays for our opponent, and it was important for us to communicate to our fans as soon as possible,“ Schuster said (via the Vancouver Whitecaps official website).
“We always want our best players going up against our opponent’s best players, and facing players of the highest pedigree was especially exciting for our team. We know that there will also be a lot of disappointed fans. We remain committed to making this a special experience for everyone. It is still going to be an incredible atmosphere and celebration of soccer for our city. We have amazing fans, we have a good team, and Saturday’s match is a very important home game for us.”
Whitecaps fans react to Messi, Suarez, Busquets absence
In a bid to appease supporters, the Whitecaps revealed that all in-stadium food and beverage for the match against Inter Miami will be sold at 50% off, with under 18s also provided one free kid’s meal combo.
However, that still hasn’t stopped plenty of backlash coming their way on social media, with fans mainly taking aim at the increased ticket prices for this weekend’s match.
You upcharged this game specifically because of those players. Refunding money to those who paid 5-10x normal game prices is completely in your control. That would be my expectation or 100% , my family will not be attending any more games in my lifetime.
— Asif Lalani (@10Lalani) May 24, 2024
Fair they cant control who plays but they sold us group tickets , not even resale ones. $180 per at the back of the upper balcony. Maybe if you cant control the players dont charge 8x the price.
— WolfOfBallStreet (@WolfOfBallStre3) May 23, 2024
We should get a refund. This game should be 30$ ticket. Not the 100's $ we paid part of the 4 game pack.
— Dan Tingey (@Tingeys49ers) May 23, 2024
@MLS how on earth is this allowed to even happen? This is beyond brutal and a terrible way to treat fans that have paid top dollar to see elite players. One player not coming… maybe…. But 3?!?!?!
— KerKer (@keridanielle2) May 24, 2024