We bet international football superstar David Beckham never thought his recent Hong Kong trip would turn out this way.
Recently, the 48-year-old, who’s the president and co-owner of American professional football club Inter-Miami, was in Hong Kong for his team’s pre-season friendly with Hong Kong XI.
To no one’s surprise, Inter-Miami beat Hong Kong XI by four goals to one.
But when Beckham greeted the 40,000-crowd at the Hong Kong Stadium to thank them for their “incredible welcome”, all he got in return was deafening boos and fans chanting for a refund.
The jeering got so loud, the emcee had to step in and say: “Come on Hong Kong, let’s show a bit of respect please, to Mr David Beckham. Thank you very much”.
David, however, kept his cool and went on with his speech.
With an awkward smile on his face, David said calmly: “I’ve always loved Hong Kong and we look forward to coming back one day to entertain you even more”. The sneering continued to echo throughout the stadium.
The fans were angry because Inter-Miami’s star player World Cup-winning captain Lionel Messi was benched for the game.
The 36-year-old Argentine footballer sat out of the entire friendly as he had a hamstring injury.
His absence left fans, who paid upwards of HK$1000 (S$172) to catch Messi in action, extremely angry and disappointed.
According to reports, all 40,000 tickets to the game were sold out within an hour when they went on sale last December.
Yes, even though fans were already warned that there was a chance Messi could not play due to an injury.
It was also said that, at the time of purchase, it was made clear to fans that no refunds will be issued if Messi doesn’t feature in the match.
The Hong Kong government is also not pleased with Inter Miami’s game plan this time.
According to sports minister Kevin Yeung, the government’s funding agreement with the match organiser Tatler Asia “required Messi to play on the field for at least 45 minutes, unless there were safety or health concerns”.
Mr Yeung also emphasised that, before the match commenced, Tatler Asia reassured them that Messi would be playing in the second half of the game. That clearly never happened, and they were only informed later that the star was not able to play due to an injury.
Watch the video of David being boo-ed below: