The Chinese melodrama of Lionel Messi, the Argentine soccer star, continues. The player ended up explicitly apologizing to his Chinese fans on Wednesday for not participating last Sunday with his team, Inter Miami, in a friendly match in Hong Kong. The anger of the fans present in the stadium, who were left without being able to see the athlete play after having paid juicy amounts for the ticket, has been only part of the farce. After the boos on the field, the hundreds of claims for refunds, the complaints of the island's politicians and the excuses of the organizers, the controversy has risen beyond the sporting aspect to almost become a matter of national pride in the Asian giant.
The fact that he played this Wednesday in Japan – a country with which China has numerous disputes and historical affronts – has further aggravated the debate. The striker took the field in the 60th minute of the preseason match against Vissel Kobe, held at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo. After a 0-0 draw, the Japanese team won on penalties.
“Hello to all my fans in China and Hong Kong!” Messi wrote on Wednesday in an official apology on his Weibo profile (the Asian giant's X), where he has more than eight million followers. “It was a real shame not to be able to play in Hong Kong the other day due to the injury he suffered in his swollen adductor,” he continued, in a message written in Chinese and Spanish. “Anyone who knows me knows that I always want to play, that's what I always want to do in any game. And especially in these games when we travel so far and people are excited to see our games. Hopefully we can come back and we can play a game in Hong Kong. And I also hope to be able to return to China as soon as possible and greet you all,” he said, before wishing a happy year of the dragon, which starts on Friday at midnight.
Messi accompanies the text with an image from when Yeah He went out to play on the field last June, during a friendly between the Argentina and Australia teams in Beijing. The recent world champion then scored ninety seconds after the initial whistle, and the stadium, with some 50,000 spectators, became a sea of albiceleste shirts with the 10 on the back (there were hardly any other players, and even less from Australia) He celebrated having witnessed something unique.
The Hong Kong fiasco seems to have turned the tables. “I know you like Japan, but you are not welcome in China, so don't come back,” a Weibo user responds to Messi's message. The comment pokes at the wound: the player is expected to return to China in March, to play two new friendly matches with the Argentina team in the city of Hangzhou, and again in Beijing. It will be a good time to gauge the magnitude of the damage caused among fans.
The anger of the followers has been increasing since last Sunday. The match against the team from the special administrative region concluded without Messi taking the field for a minute. His participation had been fixed by contract, except in the case of injury. That was the justification of the club and the star. Supporters complained about the lack of warning (the player was sitting on the bench as a substitute and gave the impression that at any moment he would jump in to show his magnetic football), some suggested that the match could have been postponed (as did Cristiano Ronaldo a few weeks ago, by canceling a match scheduled in Shenzhen within 24 hours), and many criticized his elusive attitude at the end of the match. He did not offer any explanations until a couple of days later, already in Japan.
The Chinese state press has also entered the debate. The hardline official newspaper Global Times He believes that the fans' anger is understandable. “Some mainland fans traveled 12 hours from Xinjiang to Hong Kong just to see Messi,” states an editorial on Wednesday. While in Japan he showed “good physical condition,” the game on the island was the only one of the six preseason friendlies in which he was “absent.” “Given this significant disparity, the government's disappointment [Hong Kong] and from the fans it is totally understandable. “The impact of this incident has far exceeded the sporting arena.”
His statements from the neighboring country also provoked the anger of Hong Kong legislator Michael Tien Puk-sun, who described it as a great insult that Messi made his clarification in Tokyo and not when he was in Hong Kong. “Was it really that difficult for Messi to go on stage to present the trophy?” [al concluir el partido]”Talk or take some photos with the fans to show some respect?” Tien wrote on social networks, as reported by the official. ChinaDaily.
In China there is a good thermometer to know when an issue becomes sensitive: the moment when Hu Xijin, a veteran commentator and former director of the Global Times, enter the debate. Always willing to comment on hot topics, Hu on Tuesday demanded a “formal explanation and apology” to Chinese fans. And he believes that Messi's explanations from Japan do not solve the problem. “Messi played in Japan, and his skills are superb, as always,” Hu wrote Wednesday on his X profile. “He has given an explanation on China's Weibo, without apologizing at all. Many Chinese netizens have considered it insincere. So his injury was healed as soon as he arrived in Japan? “That doesn't make any sense.”
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