After their last meeting in Florida, rivals Toronto FC and Montreal Impact return to the more traditional surroundings of Stade Saputo on Friday to play a game with both Eastern Conference and Canadian Championship implications on the line.

Watch the game LIVE on TSN4 and TSN Direct at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.

Toronto and Montreal hardly need any added motivation to stage another Classique.

The teams are in the midst of a six-game schedule that, along with matches against the Vancouver Whitecaps, will determine which MLS team qualifies for the Canadian Championship final as well as count towards the MLS standings.

Ayo Akinola was the star of the show for TFC when the teams met at the MLS is Back tournament at the Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando. The 20-year-old netted a hat trick in the July 16 contest to help lead Toronto FC to a 4-3 victory over the Impact.

Alejandro Pozuelo also made a mark that night, assisting on all three of Akinola’s goals and currently leads the MLS in assists with seven. Richie Laryea opened the scoring for Toronto when the teams played in Orlando.

Saphir Taider converted two penalties for the Impact and Romell Quioto also found the net for Montreal in the loss.

The Impact became the first Canadian professional team to host fans since the COVID-19 pandemic break on Tuesday when they defeated the Whitecaps 2-0 in front of 250 supporters. It was their first action since the tournament.

"The cohesion was there, the chemistry for us was there," Impact midfielder Samuel Piette said after the win. "There's a lot of stuff we need to work on, but I like the fact that when we have the ball, we try to play. We didn't just kick the ball forward and try to defend.”

TFC hosted the Whitecaps twice last week, with no fans in attendance, earning 3-0 and 1-0 victories.

"Guys were motivated to play coming out of the stoppage. They were motivated to come into the season after getting to the final last year and not finishing it off. And so, there's a lot of motivation at our group to be successful again this year,” head coach Greg Vanney told the media after the second game. “We've been able to pick up where we left off pretty quickly.”

Toronto FC enters the game on 15 points, one behind Columbus Crew for the Eastern Conference lead, while the Montreal Impact are currently fifth with 10 points.