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Lionel Messi’s absence from Inter Miami’s friendly in Hong Kong on Sunday has been called a “deliberate and calculated snub” after he played in Japan three days later.
Messi remained on the bench for Miami during their 4-1 victory over a Hong Kong XI, with coach Tata Martino later explaining that this was due to an ongoing injury to his star player.
The Hong Kong government said it was “extremely disappointed” by Messi’s absence and demanded an explanation from event organisers, but the situation only worsened when the 36-year-old played against Vissel Kobe in Japan on Wednesday. .
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Hong Kong lawmaker Kenneth Fok says Messi’s appearance in Tokyo “sprinkled salt” on the wounds of Hong Kong fans, while government adviser Regina Ip wrote in X that “Hong Kong people hate Messi, to Inter Miami and the black hand behind them, for a deliberate and calculated slight towards Hong Kong.”
Hong Kong’s culture, sports and tourism office also demanded “reasonable explanations” for Messi’s absence from the match before traveling to Japan.
After the Hong Kong government expressed disappointment on Sunday, the government department later added: “However, three days later, Messi was able to play actively and freely in Japan… the government hopes that the organizers and teams can give reasonable explanations.”
The office added: “Hong Kong citizens have many questions.”
The Global Times media organization, part of China’s state-controlled media, wrote in an op-ed: “The match in Hong Kong became the only one of Messi’s six preseason friendly matches on this trip in the that was absent. The situation… has magnified these doubts and suspicions about the integrity of Inter Miami and Messi himself.”
The op-ed added that Messi’s failure to play in Hong Kong was an “incident that has far exceeded the scope of sports.”
After missing the match in Hong Kong, Messi took to Chinese media platform Weibo to offer an explanation for his lack of participation.
“Anyone who knows me knows that I always want to play,” Messi wrote in Chinese and Spanish, “especially in these games where we travel so far and people are excited to watch our games.”
Miami coach Martino added that the decision to play Messi for 30 minutes against Vissel Kobe was only made after the team’s training session the night before.
“After training on Tuesday afternoon, he (Messi) said he felt good and we agreed that he would play 30 minutes,” he said. “We are very happy now that he finished the game because Messi seemed very comfortable.”
Martino had already said after the match against the Hong Kong XI: “It really was a huge risk to even play with him for a few minutes.”
Miami concludes its preseason with a friendly match against Messi’s boyhood club, Newell’s Old Boys, on February 16.
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(Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images)