Beckham slammed by furious netizens for Messi's absence from exhibition match

Argentine soccer icon Lionel Messi's Inter Miami played against the Hong Kong team on Sunday; however, his no-show on the pitch led to the disappointment and ire of an expectant audience, with the dissatisfied fans expressing their emotions on David Beckham's social media page.

The exhibition match attracted nearly 40,000 fans to the Hong Kong Stadium, with tickets ranging from HK$880 to HK$4,880.

However, Messi and Uruguayan star striker Luis Suarez did not feature in the match, which caused a public relations nightmare and disappointed hordes of fans.

Around 5,000 fans were seen to have posted their angry comments, some with foul language, on Inter Miami owner David Beckham's Instagram post, which showed the training session of the MLS team.

The majority of the comments were angry with the fact that Messi was being promoted as the leading player to induce fans to purchase tickets. Many of them requested refunds and told Beckham not to visit Hong Kong again.

Some mainlanders did not like that Beckham treated Messi as a "money-making tool" and thought he disrespected the Argentine captain and also the fans with tickets.

"I think your association has caused a dreadful PR crisis and severely let Hong Kong fans down," an internet user commented.