On February 7, Miami International Club responded to an inquiry from Hong Kong Cable News and made a lengthy response to Messi's absence from Hong Kong, China. In the statement, Miami stressed several times that injuries are part of football and that no one is at fault in this matter. Inter Miami explained that they saved the decision on whether Messi could play until the last minute, and were sorry that Messi and Suarez were ultimately unable to play due to injury. Miami said it "understands people's frustrations" and thanked the organizers for their efforts.
In fact, many fans fully understand that Messi is injured or unwell and cannot play, and it is also understandable that the player and the club do not want to risk too much injury for the friendly game. Many fans are dissatisfied that Messi or Miami have not been able to communicate and explain in a timely manner with a good attitude. Miami did not address this in its statement.
The full text of Miami International's response is as follows:
Miami International Football Club is honored to visit Hong Kong. From the club's open training session to the match against Hong Kong, we were greeted by almost 80,000 spectators over the course of two days, which is an extraordinary event that our club and players will always remember.
Despite our good intentions, we also understand the disappointment that Messi and Suarez will miss Sunday's game, and we are sorry that these two players will not be able to play. We also recognise that this belated decision has caused displeasure among Hong Kong fans and the tournament's promoter, Tatler Asia. We think it's important to say that injuries are part of this beautiful sport and we have to always put the health of our players first. We also want to assure you that the players who represent our club always want to play, as you heard from Messi at Tuesday's press conference in Tokyo.
Last Sunday, the club opted to make a decision at the time of the game. Doing so provides the maximum window of time to give two players a chance to play. Our goal has always been to get them on the pitch and that's why they've all been included in the initial list that was handed over to the promoter before the tournament. We could have ruled out these two players before the game, but we waited until the last minute with the utmost sincerity, which is a further indication that we tried everything we could.
Messi did not come out to warm up as he was still being assessed in the dressing room before the game. Since then, he has been considered too risky to play. Ultimately, in this case, neither player can play, as the medical staff believes that it poses a threat to their health.
We would like to express our gratitude to Tatler Asia for their hard work and dedication to our trip to Hong Kong. The organizers did everything they could to put on a great event, but it wasn't anyone's fault that players got injured during a football match. This is a brutal part of the beautiful game of football, and it also affected our trip to Hong Kong. As we continue to digest the headlines and negative comments that target different stakeholders, we feel compelled to re-emphasize the reality of these types of injuries.
Hong Kong is a world-class tourist destination and an excellent place to play football as it has an excellent transportation network that easily attracts tourists from all over the world. In addition, there are many football fans here. If fans are willing to accept the club again, Inter Miami will be eagerly looking forward to returning to beautiful Hong Kong in the future.