Tatler XFEST Hong Kong, Hong Kong Team vs Inter Miami CF was a friendly football match between Hong Kong League XI and Inter Miami CF held in Hong Kong Stadium on 4 February 2024. Inter Miami won the match 4–1, but the no-show of Lionel Messi, Inter Miami's star player, greatly disappointed some ticket buyers and members of the government. The costly and highly publicized match, meant to boost Hong Kong's reputation for hosting major events, became a controversy known as the Messi Mess or Messi's Mess ().

Organizer Tatler Asia, a culture and society magazine with no experience in sports events, had been misleading during and after the match about Messi's expected participation and its knowledge of this, and ultimately agreed to a half-refund of the record-setting ticket prices. Messi and Inter Miami stated that he did not participate due to a medical assessment, while certain commentators, state-controlled media and Chinese government officials accused Messi of anti-China sentiment.

Background Despite the Hong Kong government having revoked all pandemic restrictions in early 2023, it had not attracted visits from many top-tier celebrities. The imposition of national security law in 2020, the slowing growth of the Chinese economy, and speculations over the slump in the Hong Kong stock market are said to have diminished the attractiveness of Hong Kong. The government therefore decided to boost the economy through world-class events, in order to promote Hong Kong and stimulate spending by the public.

Announcement According to an interview with Pui Kwan-kay, President of the Football Association of Hong Kong, China (HKFA), a friendly match had been planned for Inter Miami in Shanghai, to take place in November 2023, but was cancelled due to delays with permits. Since the organising Shanghai sports corporation had paid the deposit and the team had travel plans, intermediaries approached Pui expressing their desire for Hong Kong to take over the match. The rumoured appearance fee was US$10 million, and Shanghai had paid US$3 million. However, Pui said he unequivocally rejected the offer for the "astronomical" and "unrealistic" price. According to Pui, the match was later made possible by the Hong Kong Government, and was scheduled in 2024.

Seen as one of Hong Kong's first major post-pandemic events, Inter Miami announced in December 2023 that it would travel to Asia in February for the club's first international tour, and the team would play a match in Hong Kong on 4 February, taking on the Hong Kong Team. The tour would be organised by Tatler Asia, a culture and society magazine catering to the wealthy elite which had no prior experience in hosting sports events. Both Argentine superstar Lionel Messi, who previously visited Hong Kong in 2014 and won the World Cup in 2022, and Uruguay footballer Luis Suárez were reported to be joining the tour.

Tatler Asia and Hong Kong officials promoted the event as the "world's top-level football match" and the most prominent sports event of the year in Hong Kong. Chinese and southeast Asian tourists were expected to attend, which would demonstrate the city's capability as the "events capital of Asia". Hong Kong Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung said that the government had provided a matching grant of $16 million through the M Mark event subsidy scheme and approved a range of support measures for Tatler Asia, including a venue-hiring grant.

Ticket sales

Tickets for the match were offered for sale in January 2024, priced at $800 to $4,800, setting a record as the city's most expensive football tickets. Nonetheless, with heavy promotion, more than 2 million fans tried to buy the tickets online, and all tickets were sold within an hour. However, Tatler Asia were reluctant regarding Messi's participation, claiming that there was no deal in place and that it would ultimately be the coach's decision as to who plays. This was disputed by a senior government source who said that there were "contract terms specifying that Messi would play in the match, save for illness or injury".

Prior matches

Inter Miami played against Saudi Al Hilal on 29 January and Al Nassr on 1 February. Messi was substituted 87 minutes into the game against Al Hilal, and reportedly felt unwell afterwards; he resumed training on 31 January. Due to requests under contract terms, Messi played for 7 minutes as a substitution in the match against Al Nassr in spite of his club's advice to rest for a few days. This raised concern of his possible injury.

Arrival and training Arrival After finishing the match in Saudi Arabia, Inter Miami's delayed flight arrived at Hong Kong International Airport at half past two in the afternoon local time on 2 February, pushing the welcome ceremony back an hour. Manager Gerardo Martino and the squad, including Messi and Suárez, deplaned and took part in a photo session at the airport apron. Then, apparently exhausted in the heat, they boarded a bus without answering reporters' questions, despite requests to stay by the master of ceremonies. Around ten minutes later, Hong Kong officials including sports commissioner Sam Wong, along with Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas and Tatler Asia CEO Michel Lamunière, arrived and took pictures with a group of children who had hoped to meet the footballers. The team meanwhile stayed on the bus, and left the airport a few minutes later.

In a press conference later that afternoon, Martino said Messi had felt a twinge in his hamstring and underwent an MRI earlier that week to assess the problem. They would wait until the day of the game to decide if Messi could play. Martino asserted that the aspiration was that Messi would play as many minutes as possible, but he would most certainly be on the pitch.

Open training

Messi and his Inter Miami teammates took part in an open training session later that day, joined by a record 39,916 spectators, with ticket prices between HK$580 and HK$780. Around 15,000 free tickets were distributed by the government, Laureus Sport for Good, and HKFA to grassroot community organizations, students, youth and para-athletes. Greeted by the large crowd, Messi emerged 15 minutes after his teammates and waved at the fans. However, Messi and Suárez did not participate in as much practice as their teammates, Messi performing back stretches instead.

David Beckham, the club's co-owner who arrived earlier than the team, also appeared and thanked those present for the "special welcome". He was stopped for a selfie by one of several pitch invaders, who brought the event to an early conclusion, with Miami players staying only 40 minutes of the 90 scheduled.

The Miami club also took part in a coaching clinic for 80 local children, where Messi and Beckham were seen playing with the kids.

Private events Tatler Asia arranged a 30-minute meet-and-greet session and an autograph session with Inter Miami players, priced at HK$150,000 and HK$120,000, respectively.

Messi, Jordi Alba, and Sergio Busquets from Inter Miami, paralympic medalist So Wa-wai, Special Olympics football player Lee Ho-yung, and disability activist Mok Kim-wing met with two severely ill children from Make-A-Wish Hong Kong, and signed autographs.

Match

Pre-game

At 12.30 p.m., three and a half hours before the scheduled start of 4 p.m., Hong Kong Stadium was opened to spectators. Attendance was recorded at 38,417, while some media reported the figure as 38,323.

Players from both teams entered the stadium at around 3 p.m. for warm-up, though Messi and Suárez were both absent. Government ministers, including Yeung and Financial Secretary Paul Chan, along with tycoons and celebrities were present. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee was seen chatting with Beckham, as were actor Tony Leung and his actress wife Carina Lau who took photos with the club's owner. Anson Lo and Keung To from local boy group MIRROR performed three songs as pre-game entertainment.

The line-up was announced at 3:55 p.m., with Messi and Suárez appearing and seating themselves at the substitutes benches. In an Inter Miami social media post, Messi was not included on the line-up, while Suárez was listed as a substitute. The HKFA's website and the team sheet signed by club staff and submitted to match officials, however, showed Messi listed on the team sheet as a substitute.

Match details The match began at 4:07 p.m.. In the 40th minute Taylor feinted to his left from the corner of the box and fired a curling strike past the goalkeeper to open the scoring for Inter Miami. Three minutes later Hong Kong responded with a goal by Anier, equalizing the score at halftime. In the second half, Sunderland latched onto a square pass from the defender and reclaimed the lead at 50 minutes, followed by Campana receiving a pass in the box from Sunderland and scoring six minutes later. In the 62nd minute former Barcelona players Alba and Busquets joined the playing field. The final goal was scored in the 85th minute when Sailor flicked a header into the net, concluding the match with a 1–4 result.

GK 1 Yapp Hung-fai (c) DF 3 Li Ngai-hoi DF 26 Oliver Gerbig DF 15 José Ángel DF 22 Timothy Chow MF 7 Ruslan Mingazow MF 27 Marcos Gondra MF 16 Chan Siu Kwan MF 17 Mikael FW 8 Everton Camargo FW 9 Henri Anier Substitutes: GK 18 Pong Cheuk Hei GK 19 Tse Ka Wing DF 2 Calum Hall MF 4 Charlie Scott DF 5 Daniel Almazan MF 11 Cleiton MF 12 Mitchel Paulissen MF 24 Ngan Cheuk-pan FW 10 Lam Lok-hei FW 13 Gil FW 14 Jakob Jantscher FW 20 Nassam Ibrahim FW 21 Jordan Lam FW 23 Mahama Awal Manager: Jørn Andersen

GK 13 CJ dos Santos DF 2 DeAndre Yedlin DF 24 Julian Gressel DF 6 Tomás Avilés DF 27 Sergiy Kryvtsov DF 32 Noah Allen MF 16 Robert Taylor MF 26 Gregore (c) MF 41 David Ruiz MF 43 Lawson Sunderland FW 8 Leonardo Campana Substitutes: GK 1 Drake Callender GK 99 Cole Jensen DF 18 Jordi Alba DF 15 Ryan Sailor DF 5 Sergio Busquets DF 55 Tyler Hall DF 62 Israel Boatwright MF 42 Yannick Bright FW 10 Lionel Messi FW 9 Luis Suárez FW 49 Shanyder Borgelin Manager: Gerardo Martino

Messi, Suárez benched

As many fans had purchased tickets solely to see the superstar playing, chants of "Messi" could be heard throughout the match. But as it became clear that Messi would not be playing, the boos and chants of "refund" (; , ) in Cantonese became louder during the last ten minutes, during which some spectators left. The jeers rose to a crescendo at the final whistle. Suarez had failed to take to the pitch because of a knee injury, while Messi, wearing trousers, was reported to have entered the dressing room during halftime.

A trophy was presented to the visiting team, whilst boos and jeers continued to greet the players. Messi stood at the back for team photos and went straight to the dressing room afterwards. Beckham thanked Hongkongers for their "incredible welcome", and "look forward to coming back one day to entertain you even more". His speech was drowned by boos despite the announcer's urge for respect. When he walked around to thank the fans, he signed an autograph for a fan who invaded the pitch and took a selfie. The event was brought to a close by local pop star G.E.M. with hymn "Amazing Grace" and a Spanish version of her song "Gloria", but that did not calm all the frustrations. Some fans redirected their anger at the advertising around the stadium, with Messi's head torn from one display.