February 6 – Lionel Messi has defended himself after local Hong Kong fans booed his absence from a long-anticipated exhibition game with Inter Miami.
Almost 40,000 fans paid around £101 for a ticket to watch Messi but he didn’t take the field as his team beat a local eleven 4-1 on Sunday.
“I always want to play, especially in these games where we travel so far and people want to see our games,” Messi said later. “Unfortunately this happens in football. In any game it can happen that you can’t play.”
But that is unlikely to appease fans who chanted ‘Refund, refund’ before Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham was drowned out by jeers as he tried to thank supporters during a speech after full-time.
The Hong Kong government said in a statement that fans were “extremely disappointed” that Messi could neither play in the friendly match, nor explain to the fans “in person upon request”.
Match organiser Tatler Asia had told the government ahead of the match that Messi would play in the second half, Hong Kong’s culture, sports and tourism minister Kevin Yeung told reporters.
The government was apparently only informed that an abductor injury would prevent the Argentine superstar from featuring with 10 minutes of the match remaining.
“We immediately requested them to explore other remedies, such as Messi appearing on the field to interact with his fans and receiving the trophy,” Yeung said. “Unfortunately, as you all see, this did not work out.”
Under the government’s funding agreement with Tatler Asia, Messi had been due to “participate in the match for at least 45 minutes subject to fitness and safety considerations”, Yeung added.
Tatler Asia says it will not ask to be paid since Messi did not take to the pitch.
“Tatler Asia deeply regrets the disappointing ending to what was an exciting occasion,” Michel Lamuniere, chairman and CEO, was quoted as saying. “[Tatler Asia] has decided to officially withdraw its application for… the 16 million Hong Kong dollars government grant.”
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