HONG KONG – The fallout from Lionel Messi’s non-appearance in a highly anticipated match in Hong Kong continues as Chinese state media, Hong Kong politicians and fans swiftly condemned the Argentinian footballer’s participation in a Japan match on Feb 7.
The Inter Miami forward had stayed on the bench just days earlier during a Feb 4 friendly in the financial hub to the dismay of the sell-out crowd, with fans demanding answers and a refund.
Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino said the 36-year-old Messi was deemed unfit to play in the Hong Kong match.
China’s state-controlled Global Times said Messi’s absence posed many questions on the differential treatment for Hong Kong.
“The match in Hong Kong became the only one in Messi’s six pre-season friendly matches on this trip where he was absent.
“The situation... has magnified these doubts and suspicions on the integrity of Inter Miami and Messi himself.”
Some mainland Chinese fans travelled 12 hours from Xinjiang to Hong Kong to see Messi, the Global Times wrote, with the disappointment of the government and fans “entirely understandable. The impact of this incident has far exceeded the realm of sports”.
Messi apologised to his Chinese fans on Weibo, a Chinese platform similar to X, just ahead of the Japan game on Feb 7, saying it was a real shame he was not able to play in Hong Kong due to an injury.
“Anyone who knows me knows that I always want to play... especially in these games where we travel so far and people are excited to see our games,” he wrote in Chinese and Spanish.
“Hopefully we can come back and play a game in Hong Kong.”
The match in Hong Kong drew 40,000 fans, with spectators paying up to nearly HK$5,000 (S$860) per ticket. In Tokyo, entire blocks of seating at the Japan National Stadium remained unoccupied, with just 28,614 tickets sold.
Hong Kong’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau said in a statement that, like the fans, it was very disappointed that Messi could not play in Hong Kong due to injury.
“However three days later, Messi was able to play actively and freely in Japan... the government hopes the organisers and teams can provide reasonable explanations.”
Sports lawmaker Kenneth Fok said the incident “sprinkled salt wounds” on Hong Kong fans, while senior government adviser Regina Ip wrote on X that “Hong Kong people hate Messi, Inter Miami and the black hand behind them, for the deliberate and calculated snub to Hong Kong”.
Scott Wong, a 26-year-old cadet pilot, said that if Messi comes back to play in Hong Kong he would think twice before getting tickets, in case he is injured again.
“All the backlash Inter Miami got, plus Messi, I think he feels like he needs to make up for it. That’s why he promised to come back and play the game again.” REUTERS
