On 5 February, Inter Miami departed for Japan immediately after a friendly match against Hong Kong in preparation for the match against Vissel Kobe on 7 February.
It is worth mentioning that Leo Messi did not seem to be affected by the public opinion of this trip to Hong Kong, and after the plane landed in Japan, he smiled and waved hello to the fans, which formed a stark contrast with the performance of his Hong Kong trip, which is intriguing.
It is reported that the friendly match between Miami International and Hong Kong was scheduled a few months ago, and not long ago, the organizers confirmed to Miami International many times whether Messi would play, and they got a positive answer.
In order to welcome Messi's arrival, the Hong Kong government personally came forward to buy back 15,000 tickets for free to local disabled people and students, and even sponsored an additional 16 million Hong Kong dollars for this game, which can be described as full of sincerity.
On the day of the match, about 40,000 spectators poured into the Hong Kong Stadium, including Hong Kong's chief executive and many celebrities. Almost all of these spectators came for Messi, they wanted to appreciate the heroic appearance of the football king on the spot, but they didn't expect that what they were waiting for was just a great deception.
Messi and Inter Miami changed their minds before the start of the game, not only violating the contract clause of 45 minutes of play, not playing for a minute, but also unilaterally refusing Messi after the organizers put forward compromise measures such as Messi receiving the trophy or communicating with the fans after the game.
Therefore, after feeling the great deception, some of the audience at the scene even shouted the slogan of ticket refund. Afterwards, Hong Kong SAR Legislative Council member Fok Kai-gang issued a statement expressing his disappointment with the arrangement of the organizer Tatler, and believed that Tatler and the Miami International team needed to apologize and explain to the people of Hong Kong.
Once this matter was fermented, it quickly swept the domestic public opinion field, and the Chinese people were shocked by Messi's behavior, which was not only a deception to the fans on the spot, but also a naked reflection of Messi's indifference and disdain for domestic fans, which chilled the hearts of many fans.
Regarding Messi's non-playing, the explanation given by Miami International was that Messi was unable to play due to injury and leg muscle strain. But is this really the case? Putting aside the clause that you agreed to play for 45 minutes knowing that you were physically injured, did you have a strained leg muscle, damaged your vocal cords, and a broken finger? In the face of the boos of the fans, not only did you not give any explanation after the game, but also rejected the post-game statement proposed by the organizers, and even to this day you are still unwilling to apologize for your behavior on social platforms.
I don't think Messi didn't know what the consequences of his actions were, but he didn't say anything and flew to Japan with the team after the game. After the official announcement of the previous trip to Japan, Messi preferred to greet Japanese fans in "Japanese" on his social account, looking forward to the match with the Japanese team Kobe Victory. Sure enough, after arriving in Japan, he waved hello to the Japanese fans with a smile on his face, which was in stark contrast to the performance of the trip to Hong Kong.
It is still difficult for us to know whether such biased treatment is the team's request or the display of one's own inner will.