Inside Inter Miami's DISASTER world tour: From empty stands to Messi not playing
Inter Miami's world tour reached a new low on Sunday when David Beckham was booed by angry fans in Hong Kong demanding a refund after paying up to £365 to watch Lionel Messi.
The MLS club president and co-owner greeted the 40,000-strong crowd at Hong Kong Stadium and thanked them for their 'incredible welcome', but his speech was drown out by loud boos.
The fans' anger stemmed from the fact Messi, who featured prominently in the advertising ahead of the event, remained on the bench throughout Inter Miami's 4-1 win over a Hong Kong XI.
Some fans quite literally took aim at Messi.
A video shared on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter, shows a fan kung-fu kicking an advertising board featuring a picture of the Argentine star and taking his head off.
All 40,000 tickets for the friendly were snapped up in a matter of hours in December with fans in Hong Kong desperate to see the World Cup winner in action.
But a hamstring injury meant Messi watched on from the sidelines, along with fellow high-profile superstars Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets.
Miami coach Gerardo Martino said the club's medical team had taken the decision after an assessment on Sunday morning.
'We understand the disappointment of the fans for the absence of Leo [Messi],' he told reporters.
'We understand a lot of fans are very disappointed and we ask for their forgiveness.
'This decision was made together with the medical staff. We ran a lot of risk of aggravating their injuries and that’s why they couldn’t be in the game.'
Martino acknowledged fans were left disappointed, but insisted Messi's fitness was his main concern.
'We apologise, but I hope you can understand that, if we had a chance to get them to play for a while, we would
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