On the afternoon of February 4, the football match between Miami International and Hong Kong, China was held as scheduled at the Hong Kong Stadium, and tens of thousands of fans who spent thousands of Hong Kong dollars to buy tickets to enter the stadium hoped to see the style of the plum ball king up close.
It is reported that Messi did not participate in the team's warm-up before the game, but only appeared with Suarez before the start of the game, and sat on the bench with a blank face, which caused strong dissatisfaction among the fans who wore his jerseys from various periods, booed him and Miami International, and some even shouted in Cantonese and English to return the money. The level of anger shocked the TVB artists who watched the game in groups.
Although some of the Hong Kong players were allowed to take photos with Messi after the game (others were stopped by bodyguards), and the Miami boss also praised Hong Kong and the fans in his post-match speech, expressing his desire to continue to arrive in the future, the anger of the fans was not so easy to dissipate, and the boos were even louder than during the game, even if the host asked for respect for the guests and showed hospitality.
In addition, when Messi walked to the players' tunnel, some fans also gave him a middle finger and threw water bottles. In the end, he left under the protection of security guards and bodyguards. Here's a picture of the Miami International promotional board after the fans vandalized it:
The singer Deng Ziqi, who arranged the post-match performance, also lay down, and she performed hard against the fans' dissatisfaction with Messi's non-play, and the whole situation was very embarrassing.
Some Hong Kong media pointed out that in the past, many well-known European football teams visited Hong Kong, but there was almost no situation where the leading stars did not play the whole game, such as Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and other super teams, are trying to send top stars to participate, so that the fans on the scene are very satisfied, this contract clearly states that Messi will play for at least 45 minutes, the Miami International participants also promised that he will play, until the last minute to notify the organizers, absolutely a bad breach of the contract.
Of course, Miami International's head coach Martino responded specifically to the matter at the post-match press conference, saying that Messi's muscles were inflamed, and the medical team had been evaluating him in the past few days, hoping that he would improve and play, but the recovery progress was not ideal, and the Major League League was about to start, so it was finally decided not to let Messi play the wool line.
"We have felt the enthusiasm of the Hong Kong fans in the past few days, thank you very much. Messi and Suarez didn't play, I understand everyone is disappointed, but it was a decision made after a detailed examination by the medical team. I wanted to play them too, but that was too risky. Thank you for your understanding. He said.
To tell the truth, the anger of the fans is understandable, after all, they came for Messi, and they spent thousands of dollars but looked lonely, which is like being scammed. Personally, I think that the organizers and Miami International should make a formal response to this, determine right and wrong according to the contract, clarify responsibilities, and give fans appropriate compensation and partial refunds, otherwise it will be too disappointing.