Officials scrap posts after Messi absence

Top SAR officials removed their social media posts on attending the Inter Miami exhibition match on Sunday after Argentine football star Lionel Messi and his ex-Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez sat out the whole match.

The much-anticipated exhibition match at the Hong Kong Stadium was attended by top officials including Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung and transport minister Lam Sai-hung

Chan and Lam had brought to their social media, sharing the joyfulness of being among the spectators. Chan had described the exhibition match as "one of the most high-profile sporting events in the city" of this year.

However, with the match ending in boos throughout the stadium of some 38,000 football lovers, both Chan and Lam had removed their posts to prevent the heartbroken fans from getting emotional again.

Online shopping platform HKTVmall piggybacked on the exhibition match by offering a discount code to console the heartbroken football lovers, who felt gullible after watching the match without Messi and Suarez.