The club will welcome Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF to Children’s Mercy Park in the in Concacaf Champions Cup.

“He’s an incredible player,” midfielder Erik Thommy said. “If you want to stop him, you need to be on your best and push to the limits over 90 minutes.”

“When I saw we drew Miami, its a cool moment,” midfielder Jake Davis said. “They’re a big team in the league now with a lot of quality we all know, but I think it’s good for us. For our first home game of the season, I think it’ll be a good test and it’ll help us learn a lot about ourselves against a good opponent.”

Messi Mania returns to KC for the first time since the two clubs squared off last April.

“You always want to play against the best,” forward Dániel Sallói said. They had an amazing year last year. We played a very fun game against them. Unfortunately, we lost. Hopefully this time we can win against them.”

A sellout crowd witnessed that 3-2 Sporting loss at Arrowhead Stadium. This year’s rematch will be held at Children’s Mercy Park, which hold about 58,000 less seats. Miami will also trade sunny skies for one of Kansas City’s coldest nights this winter.

“We’re just accepting that it’s cold here,” Davis said. “We’re looking at this game like we would look at any other.”

“We know KC,” Thommy said. “For us, it’s nothing new. We’re gonna be prepared. It’s gonna be a little bit colder. That’s fine. I think it’s maybe a small advantage for us.”