A fixture between Argentina and Nigeria has been cancelled amid a growing backlash against Lionel Messi’s failure to play in an Inter Miami match in Hong Kong last week.
A fixture between Argentina and Nigeria has been cancelled amid a growing backlash against Lionel Messi ’s failure to play in an Inter Miami match in Hong Kong last week. The organisers of the match against a Hong Kong XI on Sunday, in which Messi failed to appear due to a groin injury, said they would offer refunds of 50 per cent after the Hong Kong government as fans criticised the event. Messi said in a Weibo post that the situation was “regrettable” and that he hoped to return to Hong Kong .
“Friends who know me will know that I want to give my best in every game,” he wrote. But the anger soon spread to mainland China, with state media and Hong Kong legislators suggesting that the incident may have been a politically motivated snub. “As a commercial event, a company and the Argentinean soccer team negotiated that the team would play a friendly match in March this year in the city of Hangzhou,” the Hangzhou authorities said in a statement. “In view of the current well-known reasons, according to the competent authorities, conditions to hold the friendly match are not mature, therefore (we) have decided to cancel it
Argentina Nigeria Fixture Cancelled Backlash Lionel Messi Inter Miami Hong Kong Groin Injury Refunds Fans Weibo Mainland China State Media Hong Kong Legislators Politically Motivated Snub Commercial Event Hangzhou
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