Lionel Messi has taken to social media to apologise to “mainland Chinese and Hong Kong football fans” after the Argentine star sat out a much-anticipated friendly fixture in Hong Kong.
Anger over the no-show spread to mainland social media, with some commenters suggesting the footballer, who took to the field in a fixture in Tokyo on Wednesday evening, preferred Japan to China.
Hong Kong’s government expressed its “extreme disappointment” after the star missed Sunday’s game against a local team, while members of the crowd, some of whom paid HK$4,880 ($620) for tickets, chanted “Refund!” when it became clear that the star wouldn’t appear.
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