In China they are furious with Messi and it will cost Argentina a fortune

Last Friday Inter Miami played their fifth preseason game this year. It was against an all-star team from the Hong Kong league and ended with a 4-1 victory for Gerardo Martino's team, thanks to goals from Leonardo Campana, Robert Taylor, Lawson Sunderland and Ryan Sailor. Although the match was entertaining and there were many goals, the fans left the stadium very unsatisfied for one important reason: the absence of Lionel Messi.

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The Argentine forward had suffered a muscular discomfort just a few days before, while participating in the Riyadh Season Cup in Saudi Arabia, and so The Herons decided that it would be wiser for him not to play in Hong Kong to avoid aggravating his injury. But that was not well received by the fans and the organizers of the match, who had to refund half the value of the tickets to those who attended the stadium.

This caused a lot of anger against Leo, who had to give a press conference explaining the reasons for his absence and trying to calm the fans: "Anyone who knows me knows that I always want to play.... especially in these games where we travel so far and people are excited to see us. Hopefully we can come back and play in Hong Kong". But that apparently wasn't enough.

Now the sports authorities in the city of Hangzhou shared a statement announcing that they have called off the friendly match that the Argentine national team was to play there on March 18 against Nigeria. "The conditions for holding such an event are not suitable," they explained. This will not only cause the Argentine Football Association to lose a fortune, but it also puts at risk the tour in Asia that they were going to carry out during the next international break.

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What will happen?

In addition to the match against Nigeria, Argentina was to face Ivory Coast also in China. But the anger of the fans and the suspension of the first game may change everything. Now, according to the newspaper AS, Lionel Scaloni's team is considering changing their plans and canceling the trip to Asia to play the two friendly matches in the United States instead.