FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Everything looked rosy for Lionel Messi and Inter Miami from the opening whistle as they faced the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday afternoon in the MLS Cup Final, the biggest game in club history.

Chase Stadium was packed with pink-clad fans. “La Familia,” the club’s most diehard supporters, bounced shoulder to shoulder in the north stands, belting out chants and banging drums.

They were there at the lowest points of the team’s history, in severe thunderstorms, and they were ready to party on championship day. They unfurled a giant banner that read: “Dale Alegria a Mi Corazon, Salir Campeon es Mi Obsesion” (Translation: Give my heart joy, becoming champion is our obsession).

They got their wish, as Inter Miami edged Vancouver, 3-1, in a tense, chippy game with 45 fouls called. The Whitecaps dominated possession, but Miami’s stars stepped up when they were needed most.

Messi did not score, but he proved heroic, delivering the assist on Rodrigo De Paul’s go-ahead goal in the 71st minute. Tadeo Allende then scored the insurance goal in the 96th minute. Spanish legend Jordi Alba, playing the final game of his career, sent a long pass to Messi, who then got the ball to Allende for the final goal.

As the stadium erupted and Miami players celebrated, Inter Miami’s first-year coach Javier Mascherano ran onto the field pumping his fist, leaped on top of Alba and gave him a congratulatory kiss.

The only part of the stadium not in pink were sections 126 and 127, which is where the Whitecaps fans congregated, many of them in the No. 13 shirt of their captain, German star Thomas Muller. Canadians are used to traveling to Fort Lauderdale in the winter, and a contingent of Vancouver fans were spotted at the Elbo Room on the eve of the game.

Four World Cup champions were on the field for this MLS Final, and stars showed up for the occasion, including Marc Anthony, Steve Nash, U.S. national team coach Mauricio Pochettino, Gregg Berhalter, Jessica Alba and Danny Ramirez.

The weather could not have been more perfect for a South Florida team, bright sun and 83 degrees. Whitecaps coach Jesper Sorensen joked in the lead-up to the match that he didn’t remember the last time he wore sunscreen to a game.

The pink party reached a new volume in the eighth minute as Miami took a 1-0 lead on an own goal by Vancouver’s Edier Ocampo, whose leg deflected a hard cross from Allende that was intended for Mateo Silvetti. Messi got the play started.

Fans roared again at the 39-minute mark, when Inter Miami goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo chested away a close range shot by Emmanuel Sabbi after a header from Muller on a set piece.

That massive save helped Inter Miami preserve a 1-0 halftime lead, but Vancouver looked dangerous at times.

Then, in the second half, the visitors equalized on a 60th minute goal by Ali Ahmed, who scored from the left side off a Brian White assist. Rios Novo got his hands on the ball, but parried it into the inside of the post and it bounced in, silencing Miami fans and igniting the Canadian corner of the stadium.

Just when Vancouver stole the momentum, just when things were looking shaky for Inter Miami, Messi came to the rescue, the way he has so many times.

He stole the ball from Andres Cubas high up the field and sent a through ball to a sprinting teammate he knows so well, Argentine teammate and close friend Rodrigo DePaul, who right footed a shot to the bottom left corner. The two Argentines leaped into each others’ arms and were then engulfed by their jubilant teammates in the corner of the field.

Watching it all in their team blazers were Inter Miami co-owners David Beckham, Jorge and Jose Mas. Beckham was the first to arrive at the stadium, and said he was emotional after his long journey to this moment.

“I woke up emotional and walked into the stadium emotional,” Beckham told a small group of reporters before the game. “There’s no nerves. I’m just emotional. My journey with this started almost 20 years ago with the L.A. Galaxy, leaving Real Madrid to join the MLS at that time, was criticized by a lot of people, but I always believed in the sport here. I always believed I’d be able to help the sport grow here in a small way. And thankfully, I’ve done that over the years.

“I did it as a player and thankfully I’ve been able to do it as an owner, as well. And it makes us all very proud. My journey started in 2007 when I joined L.A. And then the journey with Miami started in 2013, finishing playing for PSG and the next day jumping on a plane and announcing that I was going to bring a team to Miami.”

Beckham added that “the only thing missing at that point were the right partners,” praising the Mas brothers.

Jorge Mas was equally excited before the match.

“This is a very proud moment for all of us today, the culmination of a lot of hard work,” Mas said. “It’s been an amazing season in every sense of the word and to see this team peaking how it is in the last few weeks and I think it will be an amazing day for our club. It’s an opportunity to make history. I told the players before the game, today is mata o muere [kill or be killed]. That’s the message.”

Last year, Miami topped the standings all season only to be bounced in the first round of the playoffs. Saturday, the team had a chance to redeem itself and raise its first MLS Cup trophy.

Although Miami is scoring at a torrid pace during the playoffs, outscoring its previous three opponents 13-1, the team knew Saturday’s match would be a huge challenge.

Standing between Miami and the trophy is an outstanding Vancouver Whitecaps team that routed Messi and his teammates 5-1 over two Concacaf Champions Cup matches in April and German legend Muller over the summer.

Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano made just one change from the starting lineup he used in the 5-1 win over NYCFC in the Eastern Conference final: Rios Novo, Sergio Busquets, Ian Fray (back in the lineup after missing the NYC game with an injury), Alba, Noah Allen, Maxi Falcon, De Paul, Baltasar Rodriguez, Silvetti, Messi and Allende.

Vancouver’s Starting XI: Yohei Takaoka, Mathias Laborda, Ralph Priso, Ocampo, Tristan Blackmon, Sabbi, Muller, Sebasian Berhalter, Cubas, Ahmed, White.

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