Sorry not sorry: fans reject Messi's third explanation

Marcus Lum

More than two-thirds of mainland fans are not willing to accept Argentine football star Lionel Messi's new explanation that his no-show in the exhibition match in Hong Kong was caused by an injury instead of it being a political snub.

Messi late on Monday posted a video on his official account on Weibo - China's biggest social media platform - to explain for the third time why he did not play in the match between Inter Miami and a select local team at Hong Kong Stadium on February 4, rejecting chatter there were "political reasons" behind it.

In the video lasting two minutes and 20 seconds, Messi stands in front of the camera in a gray shirt with both hands in his pockets and speaks in Spanish, saying he wants to explain the real situation.

The World Cup-winning captain says he has heard a lot of talk after the match. If that had been the case, Messi says he would not have traveled to Hong Kong in the first place.

"None of these are true, otherwise I would not even go to Japan, or visit China as many times as I have," he adds.

His reason for not playing is due to an inflammation of an adductor muscle, he adds.

Messi says that on the day before the exhibition, he tried to make an effort for the fans, who came to watch the training session, and interact with children in a football workshop.

But he really could not play on match day as he felt unwell and playing would risk aggravating the injury, he says.

Messi says he was able to play in a friendly match against Vissel Kobe in Tokyo on February 7 after the pain eased.

The video has been viewed over 41.6 million times within six hours and topped Weibo's hot search chart.

China News Service raised a live poll shortly after Messi's video. Of over 46,000 Weibo users who voted by 7pm yesterday, 67 percent said Messi's response was unacceptable and only 8 percent accepted his response.

Most mainland web users were dissatisfied as Messi did not admit his fault or apologize, observing that he lacked "serenity" with his hands in his pockets.

Some users also suspected the video was made only for him to continue making money from China.

Keywords such as "Messi's three responses in 13 days without apology," "Messi with hands in pockets" and "Messi's video clip editing traces obvious" entered Weibo's top 10 hot searches.

"People aren't angry at him for not playing. It's because of the arrogant attitude he showed - he was not even willing to greet fans on the sidelines [on match day]," a Hong Kong web user said.

Another Hongkonger said Messi did nothing to reassure the fans at the time, and he only came out to say something now, showing no respect to fans.

It is reported that mainland brand Chishui River Wine, which Messi had recently endorsed, was removed from China online shopping platform JD.com during the Lunar New Year Holiday.

The brand has also removed Messi's ad from its Weibo account.

The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner, idolized by fans in China, stayed on the bench during Inter Miami's 4-1 win in a preseason tour match against Hong Kong team on February 4 in front of a sellout crowd of 38,000 fans.

Organizer Tatler Asia had announced a 50 percent refund to people who bought tickets costing HK$880 to HK$4,880 from official channels.

Tatler Asia chairman Michel Lamuniere has said they were informed that Messi would not play just 15 minutes before the match.

marcus.lum@singtaonewscorp.com