Hong Kong’s government have released an official statement criticizing Inter Miami’s decision to rest the injured Lionel Messi for a pre-season fixture.
The 36-year-old attacker did not feature in Sunday’s friendly against Hong Kong XI as Luis Suarez was also fully rested from the friendly, with Inter Miami winning 4-1.
Since then, there has been wide-spread criticism aimed towards the Herons from Hong Kong fans, with nearly 40,000 fans attending the fixture with the hope of watching Messi in some capacity.
And as per the Guardian, Hong Kong officials have now released a statement taking aim at Inter Miami for not fielding Messi, despite the attacker being injured and in need of a rest.
Indeed, the Argentine superstar can’t be playing ever fixture given his age and how much Inter Miami are traveling this winter, yet that hasn’t stopped an actual government now attacking the Herons.
The statement read: “Regarding Messi not playing the match today, the government, as well as all football fans, are extremely disappointed about the organizers’ arrangement. The organizers owe all football fans an explanation.”
Hong Kong’s reaction to Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami-no show is ridiculous
Inter Miami knew they were going to hit some roadblocks in their worldwide pre-season tour, with Messi simply not physically at that stage in his career to play every match.
And the reaction and fallout from the forward not featuring against Hong Kong XI is nothing short of ridiculous, with few football fans taking into account Messi’s fitness and need for a rest.
Inter Miami and Tata Martino’s main mission this pre-season is to build up squad fitness and to keep all the key players as healthy as possible going into the 2024 season.
And in regards to Messi, that means not overworking the Argentine and giving the forward rest when needed, even if it means upsetting a few fans here or there.