HONG KONG – Chinese state media, Hong Kong politicians and fans were quick to condemn Argentina’s Lionel Messi’s participation in the game against Japan on Wednesday after he was benched for the much-anticipated game in Hong Kong just days earlier.
Many in the financial center were dismayed on Sunday when the 36-year-old did not come onto the pitch during the much-publicized Inter Miami game in front of a sell-out crowd of fans who demanded answers and a refund.
Miami head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino said Messi was not deemed fit to play in Sunday’s friendly against Hong Kong.
China’s state-controlled Global Times reported that Messi’s absence raised many questions about the differential treatment of Hong Kong.
“The match in Hong Kong became the only one of Messi’s six pre-season friendlies on this trip in which he was absent. The situation…reinforced these doubts and suspicions about the integrity of Inter Miami and Messi himself.”
Some mainland fans traveled 12 hours from Xinjiang to Hong Kong to see Messi, the Global Times wrote, with the disappointment of the government and fans “completely understandable.
The impact of this incident went far beyond the realm of sports.”
Messi apologized to his Chinese fans on Weibo, China’s X-like platform, just before Wednesday’s match in Japan, saying it was a real shame he couldn’t play in Hong Kong due to injury.
“Anyone who knows me knows I always want to play… especially in these games where we travel so far and people are excited to see us play. Hopefully we can come back and play a game in Hong Kong,” he wrote in Chinese and Spanish.
The match in Hong Kong attracted 40,000 fans, with spectators paying up to almost HK$5,000 ($640) for a ticket. In Tokyo, entire blocks of seats at the Japan National Stadium remained unoccupied, with only 28,614 tickets sold.
The Hong Kong Culture, Sports and Tourism Authority 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 that the organizers and teams can provide a reasonable explanation.”
Sports lawmaker Kenneth Fok said the incident “sprinkled salt in the wounds” of 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 insults.” to Hong Kong.”
