HONG KONG — For the past three weeks, football star Lionel Messi has been battling accusations of differential treatment to fans during Inter Miami CF's pre-season global tour, with Hong Kong and Chinese online users accusing him and the team of serving them "a real slap in the face in front of the world".

After angering fans on Feb 4 for sitting out a friendly match at the Hong Kong Stadium, Messi's recent apology on Monday (Feb 19) has managed to appease some football fans, but others remain sceptical.

MESSI ADDRESSES FANS IN WEIBO VIDEO

The 37-year-old footballer took to Chinese microblogging platform Weibo to address his Chinese-speaking fans in a video, which as of Wednesday afternoon has amassed more than 43.2 million views.

Acknowledging the fallout after the Hong Kong game, Messi says in Spanish that he "wanted to record this video to give (fans) the true version so no one has to continue reading false stories".

He dismissed rumours of there being political reasons behind his lack of participation in Hong Kong and stressed "a very close and special relationship with China", having visited the country many times for interviews, games and events with FC Barcelona and the Argentina national football team.

Messi then reiterated that he had an "inflamed adductor", which prevented him from being able to play properly in both of Inter Miami's games in Saudi Arabia.

The adductor is a muscle and is often used to refer to the large thigh muscles linked to the groin facilitating side-to-side movements.

Messi explained that the day before the match in Hong Kong, he had "tried to train and made an effort" for the event's open training session and football clinic.

"I did all I could," he tells the camera. "But I really couldn't play."

Referring to the 2024 Major League Soccer (MLS) season that is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, he explains: "It felt a bit better a few days later and that's why I played for a bit in Japan to prepare fitness-wise for everything to come because I needed to play and get back up to speed.

"I'd already said all of this but I think it was important to say it again now after everything that's being said," he concludes. 

"As always, I send good wishes to everyone in China who I've always had and continue to have special affection for. I hope to see you again soon."

The hashtag "Messi responds" quickly shot to the top of Weibo's hot search list with 820 million views and 1.4 million interactions, followed by the hashtag "Messi expresses for the third time his hope to return to China" in second place with 260 million views and other related keywords such as "Messi's third response".

HOW THE MESSI MESS BEGAN

On Feb 4, Messi made headlines around the world after an injury left him benched for the entirety of a friendly match at the Hong Kong Stadium, for which fans had paid upwards of HK$1,000 (S$172) — and in many cases five times that amount — to attend.

Chants of "We want Messi" started up halfway through the second half, rising to a crescendo at the final whistle and drowning out Inter Miami's president and co-owner David Beckham as he tried to thank the crowd for their support.

Coach Gerardo "Tata" Martino later said that the club's medical team had taken the decision after an assessment that morning.

However, fans were not appeased. As photos and videos from the match began circulating online, sparking heated discussions among social media users, the team and event organiser Tatler Asia soon found their social media channels flooded with comments demanding refunds and apologies.

In one video, Messi appeared to be leaving the stadium quickly without interacting with fans.

Though some people expressed understanding and encouraged Messi to get better soon, a large majority was not so easily placated.

A top comment on Beckham's Instagram page read: "Messi didn't even play for a single second in Hong Kong. This team is cheating the whole Hong Kong people! Never support Inter Miami again!"

Even the Hong Kong government, which had awarded Tatler Asia grants totalling HK$16 million for the event, put out a press release to express its "extreme disappointment that Messi could neither play in the friendly match, nor explain to the fans in person upon request".

"The way that the organiser and Inter Miami CF handled the situation could not meet the expectations of the fans who showed strong support to Messi," it stated, adding that it would reduce the amount of funding originally granted to Tatler Asia.

Mr Kevin Yeung, Hong Kong's Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, told a news conference that government officials at the game had only been informed 10 minutes from the end that Messi's injury would keep him out of the game — after being repeatedly assured that he would play.

Mr Yeung added that one of the key terms of the government's funding agreement with Tatler Asia was "for Messi to participate in the match for at least 45 minutes, subject to fitness and safety considerations" — which was later confirmed by Tatler Asia to be a binding term of its contract with Inter Miami as well.

Though specifics of the contracts between Inter Miami and Tatler Asia were not readily available, people online began to formulate their own hypotheses based on the conflicting reports byHong Kong media and suspicions that the football star had not really been seriously injured.

On Weibo, the hashtag "Messi breaks contract, business bottom line" soared to the top of the platform's hot search list with 520 million views, 642,000 interactions and 18,000 discussions.

ALLEGED ANTI-CHINA SENTIMENT

Then, adding fuel to the fire, Messi took the field just three days after the Hong Kong fiasco in a friendly match against J-League Vissel Kobe on Feb 7 at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan.

Though he was not in the starting line-up, he began to warm up shortly after half-time and came on in the 60th minute.

Predictably, this only angered Chinese state media, Hong Kong politicians and fans even more, tipping over into the field of politics as Messi's actions were decried as being "pro-Japan" and "anti-China".

Just a few hours before the Tokyo match, Messi had expressed "regret" to fans in Hong Kong and mainland China via his official Weibo account for not being able to play in Hong Kong due to a groin injury that was "swollen and painful".

In response, Weibo users posted photos of fans holding up cardboard signs that read "Apologise to Chinese fans".

After the Tokyo match, previous incidences of Messi's alleged "anti-China" stance were resurfaced — including claims that he had said the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 had "nothing to do with football", but donated generously to earthquake relief in Japan the next year.

Sports lawmaker Kenneth Fok said that the incident "sprinkled salt wounds" on Hong Kong fans, while senior government adviser Regina Ip wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that "Hong Kong people hate Messi, Inter-Miami and the black hand behind them, for the deliberate and calculated snub to Hong Kong".

The Chinese sports authorities also came forward to denounce the World Cup winner, whose national team had previously scheduled an upcoming tour of China from March 18 to 26 this year including friendly matches with Nigeria in Hangzhou and the Ivory Coast to be held in Beijing.

On Feb 9, the Hangzhou Municipal Sports Bureau announced the cancellation of the Argentina-Nigeria friendly for reasons "known by everyone".

On Feb 10, the Beijing Football Association said that it had "no plans at the moment to host any matches involving Messi".

It remains to be seen if the Argentina captain will be making an appearance on the mainland next month.

FANS REACT TO MESSI'S LATEST VIDEO

While many fans have reacted positively to the recent Weibo video posted on Monday, there were still some people who were not convinced by Messi's explanation about the Hong Kong fiasco.

A top comment read: "As expected, the words 'I'm sorry' are hard to say."

Another user questioned his sincerity: "It goes without saying how obvious the differences between China and Japan are.

"With such an obviously perfunctory attitude, it’s evident that he came to conduct public relations only when things were out of control. Whether he is sincere or not, it goes without saying!"

There were also some people who defended the footballer: "Messi is not apologising. He didn't violate the contract and doesn't have any political position, he is just responding to the fans who love him!"

Others expressed shock that a man commonly referred to as the GOAT (greatest of all time) could fall from favour so quickly, while others blamed the misunderstandings and conflicting reports on mistranslations from Spanish during the press conference.

Someone pointed out the delayed response from Messi: "To wait until now to respond is, to put it bluntly, simply arrogant."

For those who have simply had enough of the entire debacle, one of them wrote: "Are we done yet? Is it clarified enough now?"