On February 5, the anger of Chinese fans was ignited again, and Messi and Inter Miami's trip to China became the target of public criticism. During the much-anticipated trip to Hong Kong, Messi did not appear, and what is even more infuriating is that he has no explanation or apology for this, which is in stark contrast to the previous Ronaldo.
At the same time, the promotional video of Messi's trip to Japan with Inter Miami** made the anger even worse. In the promotional video, Messi expressed his enthusiasm and expectations for Japanese fans, which contrasted sharply with his attitude towards Chinese fans. Netizens were even more angry.
What is even more infuriating, however, is the radically different attitude shown by Messi in the promotional video for his trip to Japan. He expressed his warmth to the Japanese fans, saying goodbye and promising a big hug when they said goodbye. This apparent duplicity has left fans angry and dissatisfied, believing that Messi's attitude towards Chinese fans is not sincere enough.
In fact, basically everyone is hurt by this matter:
For Hong Kong – Invite international superstars to Hong Kong for exciting events. Taylor Swift had been invited to Hong Kong before, but she was unable to make the trip due to various reasons; So this time Messi came to Hong Kong, Hong Kong is not only to give convenience, but also to do it as a party or even welfare - after signing the contract with Miami International that "Messi will play at least 45 minutes" (the contract for playing 45 minutes was personally confirmed by Yang Yunxiong, Secretary for Culture and Sports of Hong Kong), Hong Kong waived the team's venue fees and other miscellaneous fees worth a total of 16 million Hong Kong dollars, and vigorously helped promote this event in Victoria Harbour and the city center.
Messi is even more because it is currently before the Chinese New Year, the Hong Kong government sent training ground observation tickets worth 30 million to 40 million Hong Kong dollars and on-site tickets to Hong Kong athletes, youth players, people from all walks of life, etc., and the chief executive, financial secretary, Li Zekai, He Chaoqiong, Zeng Junhua, etc.
So for Hong Kong, this is not just a commercial ball game, but a grand New Year event with huge manpower and material resources! Because of the great expectations, Hong Kong approached Miami International every once in a while to confirm whether Messi could play, and received positive answers on the 3rd training day and the morning of the 4th.
But just when the game was almost starting, Inter Miami suddenly said that Messi couldn't play;
Yes? I've helped you do so much, I'll do the publicity, I'll waive the venue fee, I've arranged all kinds of security, you can play half the game casually according to the requirements of the contract, and wave your hand at the end, wouldn't it be good?
And why did you say it well this morning, and suddenly changed your hexagram?
Fortunately, the person in charge of tourism happened to be on the scene, and immediately instructed: Messi really can't play, you can wave your hand after the game and chat casually! Don't be too difficult to do, we don't have to ask you to kick, you make the atmosphere high, the people are satisfied, and you can make a difference. As a result, you have also seen that Messi didn't even wave his hands and hands, and directly annoyed him: what do you mean? We've been doing it for so long, and we don't even give basic face?
For the fans – it's not just that Messi didn't play, but it's also that kind of ignorant look that he has been in Hong Kong for the past few days.
Many mainland fans only saw the scene where Messi didn't play and kicked off his jersey casually in the players' tunnel, but before the start of this game, I swiped on Instagram that when Messi and Suarez and other Miami players were doing activities, they ignored the English-speaking host and walked away: it seemed to be at an award ceremony, and the host greeted the next guest on stage in English, but Messi glared at it, and walked away in the other direction with his head down, Suarez and a few other Miami players followed, leaving behind a hoarse host and an awkward host of guests;
At that time, in the comments on this post, some Hong Kong fans questioned why Messi was so disrespectful, but you should know that the host was in English, and there was no problem that Messi and Su Ya could not understand.
Hong Kong fans are also justified in their anger.
Hong Kong is an international metropolis for more than 100 years, who is the only sports star who comes to Hong Kong? When Real Madrid 03 came to Hong Kong to play the game, the 6 superstars came out together, and they are still talked about by Hong Kong people as "6 A"; Manchester United, AC Milan, Liverpool and so on have come to Hong Kong a lot, and the Premier League Asian Cup has been held in Hong Kong for several times. So Hong Kong people have seen superstars.
This Miami game is not only much higher than the ticket price of ordinary games, Messi doesn't even give a formality attitude, it's too hurtful, not to mention that there are many visa-free places in Hong Kong, and the fans who come to watch the game are not only Hong Kong locals and mainlanders, I saw interviews on the Internet There are many Australians, Koreans, Southeast Asians, foreigners working in Hong Kong, etc., people fly from afar, and they have to endure high local consumption, as a result, you don't play if you don't kick, and you look like you're owed money, and everyone is angry.
Xiaobei is also very bitter in his heart: You don't care about other people's sons discriminating against Asians, causing Xiaobei's family to be often blasted by Koreans on Instagram;
Anyway, Xiaobei himself comes to Hong Kong every time to attend the event, and this time he took time to help Li Zekai sell insurance products in Central before the game. As a result, the reputation that he had accumulated was ruined by his own team this time, and when he apologized for Messi after the game, he was booed by 40,000 people in the audience.
So to sum up, this matter is not only an intranet explosion, but the Asia-Pacific headquarters of many ** giants are not in Singapore but in Hong Kong, not including all kinds of foreign YouTubers, KOLs, etc. who live in Hong Kong. So what should I do with the material? By now, everyone has a fire in their hearts.
And I dare to say it: learning to disgrace foreigners is a very important lesson for many domestic fans, and don't take foreign stars and clubs too seriously, not just Messi, not just football.