The last unbeaten teams in MLS are set for a Saturday showdown in a non-league market when the Columbus Crew “host” Inter Miami in Cleveland.

There’s one reason and one reason only for the unusual location: Lionel Messi. The most recent evidence of his immense popularity came Sunday when his Inter Miami drew 62,358 to Soldier Field for the Chicago Fire’s largest crowd in history.

Jimmy and Dee Haslam, owners of the Crew and the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, opted to play in the Browns’ 67,431-capacity stadium rather than 150 miles south in Columbus where Lower.com Field (20,371) has become a fortress.

The Crew (5-0-3, 18 points) have a 34-5-15 record there in all competitions and a 21-4-9 mark in MLS regular-season matches dating back to the 2023 season.

“I understand why the club decided to do that. It would’ve been surprising if we don’t do it, because other clubs did it. So, let’s do it,” Crew coach Wilfried Nancy said. “The players know that. I will not put the focus on that because I know we’re going to play kind of an away home game. This is the reality. We will try to do everything to have a good performance.”

The Crew are led by Diego Rossi, who has three goals in his last three matches to push his season total to five.

They likely will have to contend with a rested Messi. In five MLS matches (four starts), he has three goals and two assists.

Miami (4-0-3, 15 points) has played a heavy schedule with seven MLS matches and six more in the CONCACAF Champions Cup since Feb. 19.

The match in Chicago completed a stretch of four matches in 12 days so having extra time to prepare for the Crew is a relief to Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano.

“Fortunately, we have a long week of training ahead, which gives us a bit of breathing room after the intense start to the season we’ve had,” he said this week. “We must not forget that, in our case, we’ve spent nearly two months playing every three or four days. The wear and tear is significant.”

–Field Level Media