Three days of Messimania in Hong Kong ended this Sunday like the rosary of dawn. The forty thousand Asian fans who were eager to see him play in Inter Miami's friendly against the Hong Kong XI have waited in vain for ninety minutes for the Argentine star to come off the bench. When the referee whistled the end of the match, the clamor of indignation, which increased with every minute, became deafening. "Let them give us our money back!" they have demanded in Cantonese.
Many of those present had expressly come to the stadium from South Korea, Australia or Saudi Arabia, with the sole objective of taking advantage of one of the rare opportunities to see Leo Messi play outside of Europe or America. The whistles have not even respected the moment in which the Inter Miami players - winners by 4-1 - have collected the trophy, becoming deafening when the president and co-founder of the team, David Beckham, has tried to give a speech.
The feeling of scam is shared by the Hong Kong government itself, which has warned that it could withdraw subsidies from the organizing company, which had pocketed nearly two million euros for bringing Messi's team, in which other stars also play in the second part of his career, like Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets or Jordi Alba. These last two did take to the pitch this Sunday.
In Asia, however, almost all eyes are on Messi, as they once were on Maradona. A Nigerian office worker in Hong Kong has told the South China Morning Post of his double disappointment, after paying the equivalent of four hundred euros for the right to see both Saturday's training session - with the stadium also packed - and Sunday's match. . "Yesterday he only warmed up. Today, he didn't play. Messi is no model, we don't pay to see him sitting down."
Major disappointment also for a Korean who, having just disembarked from Seoul with his two children, declared minutes before the match that it was a gift for them, "in what may be one of the last opportunities to see Messi, whom they adore, play." since they were very children."
The head of the Hong Kong government, John Lee, was also in the stadium's stands, presiding over what he presented as one of the eighty actions to revive the city's economy in this first half. Although the tickets went on sale for less than twenty euros - the cheapest - they were sold out in an hour and, on resale, they cost up to 575 euros.
Inter Miami has a new friendly this Wednesday, in Tokyo, against the Japanese league champion, Vissel Kobe. His followers will not be able to say that they are not warned about the ex-Blaugrana idol, who in another recent friendly, in Saudi Arabia, played just seven minutes. Although, whether he doesn't play, or - above all - if he plays, there will be those who make a political reading.
The coach, Tata Martino, has said that if Messi and Suárez have not taken the field it has been on the recommendation of the medical teams. But others, like the Hong Kong fan below, dispense with thoughtful analysis when expressing their frustration.
