On February 4, 2024 Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami FC played a friendly match against a team of Hong Kong players, but sadly Lionel Messi didn’t play that day. In a press release it was shared that Lionel Messi didn’t play because he was injured and recovering.
The Chinese government and fans weren’t happy with Lionel Messi not playing that day, especially when only three days later on February 7, 2024 he did play in a match in Japan.
Now Lionel Messi has put out a statement saying his missing the “exhibition game in Hong Kong had nothing to do with “political reasons” and that he has a “special relationship” with China” according to an NBC report.
Lionel Messi put out a video on China’s version of X/Twitter called Weibo, and explained that he was unable to play because of an inflamed abductor muscle.
He explained in the video “I tried to train and made an effort for all those who had come to watch training. I did all I could. But I really couldn’t play. I felt discomfort and there was a risk it would get worse.” A few days later he said he was feeling better and played late in the game against Japan. In closing, he said that it was “totally untrue” that he had not played in Hong Kong for political reasons.
Now China is escalating this non-issue, by canceling a friendly game scheduled in March in the Chinese city of Hangzhou between World Cup champion Argentina, which Lionel Messi is the Captain of, and the Nigerian national team of Nigeria.
So how will this story turn out? Will the Chinese government forgive Lionel Messi for not playing, regardless of why he didn’t play? Will Inter Miami FC revisit Hong Kong in 2024 and bring Lionel Messi along to try to appease the Chinese government and their Messi fans? I don’t think we’ve heard the end of this story, but if there’s one thing sports are good at, it’s bridging the gap between groups of people with differing political views. So here’s to hoping for the best.
Lionel Messi says he had no ‘political reasons’ for missing Hong Kong match