Lionel Messi said Tuesday his leg injury was
"getting better" but the World Cup-winning captain could not
guarantee he would be fit to play in Inter Miami's pre-season friendly in Japan
this week.
Two days ago, furious fans in Hong Kong booed Messi and club co-owner David
Beckham, shouting "Refund", after the Argentina great
failed to take the field for a sold-out friendly. "I don't
know if I can (play) or not but I feel a lot better and really want to
do it," eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi told reporters ahead of their
match against Japanese champions Vissel Kobe on Wednesday.
"This
afternoon we're going to practise, we'll try again. I have a good
feeling, compared to how I was." Excitement has been building for the
friendly at Tokyo's National Stadium, with Inter Miami's pink colours adorning
parts of the city's trendy Shibuya district.
Tickets for the
Japan leg of the US Major League Soccer (MLS)
club's globe-trotting pre-season tour are costing between 10,000 yen
($68) and 200,000 yen ($1,346) with "special experience"
packages priced even higher. A crowd of nearly 40,000 in Hong Kong who
paid for similarly expensive tickets were involved in angry scenes,
jeering and giving thumbs-down signs, after Messi stayed rooted to the
bench during their 4-1 win against a local select XI.
The Hong Kong government demanded an explanation from
the match's organisers. "It was really bad luck that I couldn't play in
Hong Kong," Messi said. "Unfortunately this happens in football,
in any game it can happen that you can't play," he added.
"I
always want to participate, I want to play, especially in these games
where we travel so far and people want to see our games. I hope we can
return and play a game in Hong Kong." The furore came after the
36-year-old Messi came on as a substitute six minutes from the end of Miami's
previous match in Saudi Arabia last Thursday.
"I
played the minutes that I did to see how I felt," he explained.
"I later did a MRI scan and it turned out I had an oedema (swelling)."
Miami's win in Hong Kong was their first in five pre-season matches. They drew
0-0 in El Salvador, lost to fellow MLS side FC Dallas and then twice to club
sides in Saudi Arabia.
They have one
more friendly, at home to Argentina's Newell's
Old Boys next week, before the new MLS season starts on February 21st.
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