Faced with a fierce reaction from China and Hong Kong, Argentine superstar Lionel Messi posted a video on his personal page X to explain why he did not play in Hong Kong.

Messi in the match against Vissel Kobe in Japan made Chinese fans angry – Photo: Getty

After China and Hong Kong continuously took actions to “ban” Messi, the Argentine star finally had to officially speak up. Recently, he posted a video on his personal page X to clarify the real reason why he could not play in the friendly match between Inter Miami and Hong Kong.

In this video,  Messi  said: “I read and heard many things that were said after the match in Hong Kong. I wanted to record this video and give you the true version so that no one has to continue reading false stories.” truth.

I’ve heard people say that I don’t want to compete for political reasons and many other reasons that are completely untrue. If that were the case, I wouldn’t have even gone to Japan or visited China like I have done many times. Since the beginning of my career, I have had a very close and special relationship with China.

As I said in the press conference, I had myositis and I couldn’t play the first match in Saudi Arabia. In the second match, I wanted to try to compete a bit but things got worse.

The day before the match in Hong Kong, I tried to practice and give my best to everyone who came to watch the training session… I felt better a few days later and that’s why I played a little bit in Japan to prepare myself physically for everything that’s coming next because I need to compete and get back up to speed.”

It is known that after Messi did not play in Hong Kong but played in Japan just a few days later, it made Hong Kong and Chinese fans angry. They continuously made moves to boycott and “ban” Messi in China .

There are many “conspiracy theories” that Messi does not play for political reasons. Many people also say that Messi despises Chinese fans, but is friendly with Japanese fans. Angry Chinese fans boycotted Messi, they burned this legend’s shirt and continuously went to Messi’s personal pages to criticize.