The Backlash to ‘Messi’s Mess’ in Hong Kong—and How It Could Backfire on the City
It was meant to be a “friendly.” But Hong Kong hasn’t been shy about expressing its anger over Lionel Messi sitting on the bench for the entirety of his soccer team’s much-hyped exhibition match in the city on Sunday, especially as the government worries about how such a high-profile disappointment for so many attendees could hamper the success of future attractions meant to revitalize Hong Kong as one of Asia’s premier hosts of top talent and attractions.
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00:00 TattlerAsia promoted TattlerXFest Hong Kong under a contractual agreement with the Inter-Miami
00:08 CF that Marquis players Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, and any additional
00:17 highly recognized players that joined the club prior to the game which applied to Luis
00:22 Suarez, would play unless injured.
00:28 On Sunday, before kick-off, the official team sheet, a list of the players who are available
00:36 to play in the game, which was submitted by the Inter-Miami CF team and signed by the
00:43 head coach Gerardo Martino, showed Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez as substitutes and therefore
00:53 fit to play.
00:55 Accordingly, TattlerAsia had every expectation that both would play the game.
01:03 At halftime, when it was communicated by the Inter-Miami CF club management that there
01:09 would be no possibility for Messi to play in the game due to an injury, TattlerAsia
01:15 immediately informed the government.
01:18 TattlerAsia subsequently spent the second half urging the Inter-Miami CF leadership
01:25 to instruct Messi to address the fans to no avail.
01:31 Throughout the whole process, TattlerAsia had the best intention to make the event a
01:36 great success for Hong Kong by bringing the best players in the world and fully understand
01:42 and share the disappointment of local and overseas fans and stakeholders.
01:49 Nevertheless, we hope that there will be a lasting positive impact on the thousands of
01:54 Hong Kong youth, youth athletes, youth with special needs and students who took part in
02:01 the two-day community outreach program with the marquee players.
02:06 TattlerAsia deeply regrets the disappointing ending to what was an exciting occasion and
02:13 has decided to officially withdraw its application for the M-Mark event status and HK$16 million
02:21 grant.
02:22 Thank you.
02:23 With regard to the saga relating to the Inter-Miami exhibition match on Sunday, it is of course
02:38 very undesirable and extremely disappointing for this to happen in such a way that the
02:47 public expectation of Messi showing up and playing in the match did not materialise.
02:56 What is important in this case is, first of all, we will keep on urging the organiser
03:05 to explain to the public in detail what actually happened, what were the details of the agreement
03:13 between them and the team, and also why in the course of the communication of the government,
03:24 despite all the suggestions and demands made by the government, nothing materialised.