Messi attributes no-show for HK friendly to ‘bad luck’

Argentina football star Lionel Messi has attributed his no-show for the exhibition match between Inter Miami and the Hong Kong team to "bad luck", as he expressed his desire to return and play a game in the city.

Now in Japan where the Miami team will take part in another friendly, Messi said he understood that his Hong Kong fans were looking forward to seeing him play, but he had been experiencing muscle discomfort while in Saudi Arabia, just before the trip to Hong Kong. 

Despite this, he participated in an open training session in Hong Kong due to the large crowd and other appearances with children. “I always want to participate, I want to play, especially in these games where we travel so far and people want to see our games. I hope we can return and play a game in Hong Kong,” he said.

While Messi said his leg pain is improving, there is no assurance that he will be able to participate in the club's upcoming friendly match against Vissel Kobe (神戶勝利船) today. 

Don't miss: Tatler gives up on HK$16m grant: Can this help it recover from reputational damage?

On the other hand, during a media session before the regular executive council meeting on Tuesday (6 February), Hong Kong leader John Lee said it was very undesirable and extremely disappointing that the public expectations of Messi showing up and playing in the match did not materialise. 

“We will keep on urging the organiser to explain to the public in detail what actually happened, what were the details of the agreement between them and the team, and also why in the course of the communications with the government, despite all the suggestions and demands made by the Government, nothing materialised,” Lee said.

Don't miss: What led to the PR debacle around Messi no-show for Inter Miami friendly?

On Sunday, thousands of the Argentina football star fans expressed anger and asked for refunds after they paid HK$4,880 to watch him stay rooted at the bench throughout the friendly match between Inter Miami and the Hong Kong team.

Following the Messi fiasco, Tatler Asia, the organiser of the friendly match has decided to withdraw its application for a HK$16m grant from the government regarding the event.

Despite the effort in explaining, Tatler's brand sentiments dipped over the weekend. A check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE saw Tatler's recent post regarding the incident garner over 3,500 likes and over 1,000 comments, with some saying that it's better for the organisers to outline the next step and propose a plan for compensating the fans, while some said they felt "deceived" by this huge "fraud". 

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