{"id":97075,"date":"2024-02-20T09:27:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T09:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/20\/drink-sewage-how-lionel-messi-turned-1-billion-people-against-him-in-just-90-minutes\/"},"modified":"2024-02-20T09:27:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T09:27:00","slug":"drink-sewage-how-lionel-messi-turned-1-billion-people-against-him-in-just-90-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/20\/drink-sewage-how-lionel-messi-turned-1-billion-people-against-him-in-just-90-minutes\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Drink sewage\u2019: How Lionel Messi turned 1 billion people against him in just 90 minutes"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Lionel Messi denied his absence from a match in Hong Kong two weeks ago that angered China was a political snub, but was caused by an injury.<\/p>\n

The eight-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner is idolised by fans in China but stayed on the bench during Inter Miami\u2019s 4-1 win in a pre-season tour match against a Hong Kong select XI on February 4.<\/p>\n

A near 40,000 sellout crowd, who had paid upwards of 1,000 Hong Kong dollars ($125) to see the 36-year-old superstar in action, chanted \u201cRefund!\u201d, gave thumbs-down signs and booed Messi and the team\u2019s co-owner David Beckham after the final whistle.<\/p>\n

Watch India v England LIVE and Exclusive to Fox Sports available on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today ><\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

Some nationalist politicians interpreted Messi\u2019s absence as a snub to China after the Argentina great was fit enough to take the field for 30 minutes in a friendly a few days later in Japan.<\/p>\n

In a video posted on China\u2019s Weibo social media platform late on Monday, the World Cup-winning captain rejected claims that his no-show was \u201cfor political reasons\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Organizers outraged by Messi no show | 01:23<\/p>\n

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If that had been the case, he said, he \u201cwould not have travelled\u201d to Hong Kong in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs everyone knows, I always want to play and be in every game,\u201d he said. Messi spoke in his video of a \u201cvery nice and very close\u201d relationship with China, a country with which he said he had \u201cdone a lot of things\u201d.<\/p>\n

His reason for not playing was due to injury, he said, specifically \u201cinflammation of an adductor\u201d muscle.<\/p>\n

Fans on Weibo reacted quickly to the video, some in support of Messi.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe the player I have always loved would never look at his fans with any kind of prejudice,\u201d wrote one user, adding, \u201che always values every fan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI still can\u2019t understand how such a supreme footballer, the greatest of all time, can be pilloried online to the extent that he is considered not to love China just for missing a friendly match,\u201d another fan wrote.<\/p>\n

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Lionel Messi #10 of Inter Miami CF reacts as he is substituted out during the second half of a friendly match against Newell’s Old Boys at DRV PNK Stadium on February 15, 2024 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs \/ GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA \/ Getty Images via AFP)<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not everyone was appeased.<\/p>\n

\u201cTurns out it\u2019s still hard to say sorry after all,\u201d read one Weibo comment. \u201cGive it a rest,\u201d said another. \u201cRun off to Japan and drink sewage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Messi starred last June when Argentina beat Australia in Beijing in a friendly, scoring in the opening minutes in front of an adoring crowd.<\/p>\n

But next month\u2019s Argentina friendlies against Nigeria in Hangzhou and Africa champions Ivory Coast in Beijing were cancelled after Messi failed to play in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lionel Messi denied his absence from a match in Hong Kong two weeks ago that angered China was a political snub, but was caused by an injury. The eight-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner is idolised by fans in China but stayed on the bench during Inter Miami\u2019s 4-1 win in a pre-season tour match against a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[151,2228,1800,1641,18244,1635,13290,10999,3861,43228,1567,85,1429,9558,6469,2061,23693,3447,23867,1425,22853,43231,164,5035,358,5499,43230,43227,1533,1809,1427,43225,43229,6483,11477,3789,2390,1792,13309,43226],"class_list":{"0":"post-97075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-agence-france-presse","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-asia","12":"tag-beijing","13":"tag-china","14":"tag-cote-divoire","15":"tag-dor-winner","16":"tag-david-beckham","17":"tag-drink-sewage","18":"tag-eastern-asia","19":"tag-england","20":"tag-europe","21":"tag-exhibition-match","22":"tag-final-whistle","23":"tag-florida","24":"tag-fort-lauderdale","25":"tag-fox-sports-news","26":"tag-friendly-match","27":"tag-getty-images-inc","28":"tag-hangzhou","29":"tag-heart-scarefootball","30":"tag-india","31":"tag-japan","32":"tag-lionel-messi","33":"tag-mark-bosnich","34":"tag-nationalist-politicians","35":"tag-newells-old-boys","36":"tag-north-america","37":"tag-northern-america","38":"tag-northern-europe","39":"tag-political-reasons","40":"tag-political-snub","42":"tag-sellout-crowd","43":"tag-social-media-platform","44":"tag-southern-asia","45":"tag-united-states-of-america","46":"tag-western-africa-sub-saharan-africa","47":"tag-zhejiang"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}