For Javier Mascherano, the belief in impossible feats is rooted in memory, not fantasy.
Ahead of Inter Miami‘s decisive second leg against Vancouver in the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals, the coach turned to one of football’s most unforgettable nights for inspiration. Reflecting on Barcelona‘s historic 6–1 comeback over Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, Mascherano delivered a clear message to his players: anything can happen.
“That night [in the 6-1 win over PSG] I learned that nothing is impossible. In football, everything can happen. Everything, absolutely everything,” Mascherano said at his pre-match news conference. The Argentine was not alone in recalling that spirit. Four of his current stars—Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba—shared the pitch with him that night and now share the task of reminding teammates what belief can produce.
Miami enters Wednesday trailing 2–0 after a difficult first leg in Vancouver. The path to the final is steep. They must score at least twice just to force extra time, and three times to win outright. If Vancouver finds the net once, the task grows even heavier. Yet Mascherano, drawing from that night in 2017, insists the fight lasts until the final whistle.
Mascherano pushes Inter Miami to believe in comeback mission
“I think that more than I can transmit as a coach, I have, at that moment, four teammates who shared with me the experience, and they live it their skin,” he said. “Clearly the situation is different, there are no two equal games, the contexts are totally different, but I think that the tie-breaker and tomorrow’s situation in particular will give us the possibility of getting through.”
Mascherano’s faith is built not only on history but on recent form. Miami turned around a first-leg deficit to defeat LAFC in the quarterfinals, winning 3–1 at home after a narrow loss in Los Angeles. They have already shown that momentum can be seized and rewritten.
“If there is something that we like, something for athletes, in my case now that I am not an athlete and I am a coach, it is to play with this kind of pressure, in the end it is what gives you life, it gives the game meaning,” Mascherano said. “The fact of being able to compete, to the illusion of having to overturn a negative result, and we have that.”
Defender Maximiliano Falcón echoed the sentiment, emphasizing the role of passion in rising to challenges like this one. “For you to be in this profession, for you to play football, you need passion, you have challenges and tomorrow we have one that is difficult,” Falcón said. “Today, it would be good to be winning 4-0, but this is the situation. We are very convinced that we will do a good job and the result will be seen.”
Now, in a city built on ambition and spectacle, Mascherano and his players look to channel the echoes of Barcelona once more—and create a new chapter of their own.
