A guy strolls past a poster of an approaching football invitational match in between Argentina and Australia at a bus drop in Beijing on June 9, 2023.
Wang Zhao|Afp|Getty Images
Argentine super star Lionel Messi got here in Beijing on Saturday for a friendly match prior to leaving a storied European profession to sign up with Major League Soccer side Inter Miami as a complimentary representative.
His arrival was revealed in a post on the arranging International Football Invitation’s authorities Weibo social networks website with a video of gamers stepping off an aircraft, ahead of Thursday’s Argentina-Australia match in the Chinese capital’s just recently restored Workers’ Stadium.
Messi, who raised the World Cup in Qatar in December and is extensively thought about to be among the video game’s all-time greats, validated today he will leave French champs Paris St Germain for the U.S. league.
This is the Argentina captain’s seventh see to China and his very first because 2017.
He has actually gotten an impassioned welcome on each of his previous check outs to China, which has a substantial soccer fan base regardless of the battles of the males’s nationwide group, who have actually dipped into the World Cup just as soon as.
His arrival was a top-trending subject on Chinese social networks on Saturday.
“I’m so excited,” stated 26- year-old health center administration employee Guo Wenwen from Guizhou province. Guo has actually followed Messi because 2014, owns around 30 reproduction Messi soccer jerseys and frequently posts videos on social networks associated with the Argentine.
Like lots of, she does not yet have a ticket for the match however she is going to Beijing anyways to see if she can get one.
“I’m going to Beijing to try to see him,” she informedReuters “He is my role model, my idol, my spiritual pillar, is the ideal type of company and a source of happiness.”
In Beijing, numerous fans using reproduction jerseys marked time for hours at the airport and the hotel where Messi was because of remain, with lots of supplying livestreams on social networks and some shouting his name as they intended to see him. Some contrasted his appeal with the dim view lots of have of the males’s nationwide group.
“Many Chinese fans love soccer but the Chinese national team are just so weak,” stated Beijing homeowner Song Gang, 36, who signed up with the crowds at the hotel on Saturday however like the majority of did not see Messi as he was blended in a side entryway.
“We hope his visit will have a positive impact for Chinese soccer. But then again, look at the size of our population and our national team has been playing for so many years and the results seem to get worse and worse. I hope they improve.”
Australia and Argentina last fulfilled at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in the round of 16, where Messi was amongst the scorers as his group won 2-1.
