Lionel Messi reveals why he didn’t play for Inter Miami after fans in Hong Kong BOOED his team having paid up to £500 for a ticket – and gives update ahead of Vissel Kobe clash

Lionel Messi told disappointed fans he was feeling too much ‘injury discomfort’ to play for Inter Miami against a Hong Kong League XI – after some even booed him in annoyance.

Messi said it would have been “very difficult” to play with his inflamed adductor muscles, despite the Hong Kong government claiming he was contractually obliged to play 45 minutes.

Fans paid between £99 and £498 to see Inter Miami win 4-1 at the Hong Kong Stadium and were angry when Messi did not feature.

David Beckham and his group of stars, who had not won 12 games until Sunday, were booed off the pitch while fans also shouted ‘refund!’ chanted. and gave thumbs down signs.

Messi said: ‘In Hong Kong we had an open-door training and I went out because there was such a big crowd and there was a clinic with the kids, and I wanted to be there and participate.

‘But the truth is that the discomfort was still there and it was very difficult for me to play.

“I can understand that people were looking forward to it and I hope there will be another opportunity for me to play in Hong Kong.”

Miami has a friendly against Vissel Kobe in Tokyo on Wednesday and Messi said: “I don’t know, we’ll have to see how it goes in training today. We still don’t know if I could do it or not, but I feel much better than a few days ago and really want to be able to play.”

Hong Kong government officials were told that Messi’s injury – inflammation of an abductor muscle – would keep him out of the match with 10 minutes left in Sunday’s match.

On Monday, Kevin Yeung, Hong Kong’s Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, explained the agreement they had regarding Messi.

He said: ‘One of the key conditions of our financing agreement with (organisers) Tatler Asia was that Messi would participate in the match for a minimum of 45 minutes, subject to fitness and safety considerations.’

Yeung added that government officials had been repeatedly told that Messi would play in front of a crowd of almost 38,323 people.

“We immediately asked them to explore other solutions, such as Messi appearing on the pitch to interact with his fans and receive the trophy,” Yeung said.

“Unfortunately, as you can all see, this didn’t work out.”

Yeung warned that up to HK$16 million in government funds could be withheld from organizers.

‘We haven’t paid any money yet. We will maintain further contact with organizer Tatler Asia in the coming weeks. We discuss the performance of the entire event and make a decision on how to handle the sponsorship.’

Tatler Asia released a statement late on Sunday expressing their ‘extreme disappointment’ that Messi did not play.

“Despite some news reports, Tatler had no information about the non-participation,” the report said.

Miami’s preseason tour was something of a disaster.

The Herons started their pre-season extravaganza with a 0-0 draw against El Salvador on January 20, followed two days later by a 1-0 loss to FC Dallas in front of a nearly empty Cotton Bowl.

Only 32,211 fans attended the friendly – a third of the capacity of the Texas venue – with large swathes of empty seats throughout the stadium.

While a downpour arguably contributed to the poor attendance, the small crowd led to questions about why MLS decided to schedule the match for Monday evening in January at 6pm local time.

Miami then embarked on a 7,000-mile flight to Saudi Arabia to take on Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr.

Messi and Suarez both got on the scoresheet in the 4-3 defeat to Al-Hilal, but the long-awaited showdown with his old foe did not materialize.

Messi scored just six minutes into the 6-0 defeat to Al-Nassr. It was billed as a ‘last dance’ with Cristiano Ronaldo, but the Portuguese star didn’t play at all. Inter Miami opens their MLS season against Real Salt Lake on February 22.