And that was it. “That’s football,” as both Whitecaps manager Jesper Sørensen and center back Ralph Priso said in the moments after, ruing the chances they had to take the lead.

Lionel Messi and Thomas Müller played against each other ten times throughout their careers. The MLS Cup Final will be the 11th time the two football stars play against each other. Muller has won seven times over Messi, while the Argentine has only beaten the German star on three occasions.

Instead of building the plane around Thomas Müller, the Vancouver Whitecaps asked the Germany legend to fit around their structure -- and it has worked.