Messi's contract for the trip to China**: Michelle Lamouni, chairman and CEO of Tatler Asia, revealed that 15 minutes before the game, it was learned that Messi and Suarez were unable to participate due to injury. The agreement stipulates that Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Suarez "must play at least 45 minutes unless injured". This detail reveals that Messi and Suarez may have avoided playing through contract loopholes, causing huge losses to the organizers.
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Why did Messi and Suarez refuse to play on the grounds of injury? The answer to this question may be known only to them and Inter Miami, but I have two guesses.
First of all, it may be that the organizers have not fulfilled their promises. Rumor has it that Tatler, a British magazine company and the organizer of a trip to Miami to Hong Kong, may lack experience in organizing such events. Despite signing a contract with Inter Miami, they have neglected the thoughtful arrangements required for Messi as a top player. Due to the negligence of Messi's team contract, the Argentine king was dissatisfied.
Secondly, Messi may have a different attitude towards his fans. If the responsibility lies with the organizers, Messi can come out and explain the situation without taking responsibility himself. However, Messi did nothing and miraculously came off the bench in Japan two days later.
Moreover, Messi does not seem to care about the matter after returning to the United States. Instead, he posted an ad on social media and took a photo with his family. Regarding Huo Qigang's request for apology and explanation, Messi completely ignored it.
Therefore, it can be observed that the organizers have borne huge economic losses. There was an obvious negligence on the contractual side of the commercial competition, and this time the Tatler organizers clearly did not think it through. Although players may not be able to play due to injury, at least the contract should clearly stipulate that if a player is unable to play due to injury, they need to take the initiative to explain the situation to the fans, as in the case of Cristiano Ronaldo's trip to China, where he also held a special press conference after the injury. Prior to this, the Tatler organizers had already come up with a solution, they intended to refund 50% of the ticket price to the fans! This caused their profit to plummet from 15 million to a loss of 30 million! Now they plan to sue Miami and Messi, but are likely to face difficulties because they will need to at least prove that Messi "deliberately faked an injury", and after such a long time, it is clear that this is almost impossible. At the same time, Messi's team is certainly ready to deal with situations where contract loopholes are exploited.
However, for Messi, this kind of exploitation of the contract loophole is really not very dignified. He not only offended the organizers and Chinese fans, but also tarnished his career. At least in the Chinese market, Messi is likely to be unable to make any more gains in the future.