Messi, Beckham booed after superstar sits out Hong Kong friendly

AFP | Hong Kong                                    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Lionel Messi and David Beckham were booed yesterday after the Argentina superstar sat out Inter Miami’s pre-season friendly in Hong Kong.

The World Cup-winning captain, who has a hamstring strain, stayed rooted to the bench throughout the 4-1 friendly win against a Hong Kong select XI.

it brought a show of anger from the near-capacity crowd of 38,323 who had paid upwards of 1,000 Hong Kong dollars ($125) to see their hero, and in many cases five times that amount.

Halfway through the second-half, chants of “We want Messi” rose around the Hong Kong Stadium from fans desperate to see the greatest footballer of his generation in the muchhyped exhibition game.

The booing became louder during the last 10 minutes when it became clear that the eighttime Ballon d’Or winner would not make even the briefest of cameos.

The jeers rose to a crescendo at the final whistle and Miami co-owner Beckham was drowned out by booing as he tried to thank the crowd for “their incredible support” while fans signalled their anger with thumbs-down gestures.

“I’m just really disappointed,” fan Jonathan Wong told AFP. “Everyone is here to see Messi, so I feel a bit cheated.

“Without him it’s just like another regular Hong Kong Premier League match, where a ticket only costs HK$80 ($11). This time we paid HK$5,000 ($625).”