”Messi mania” took hold of Hong Kong on Saturday, as tens of thousands of football fans showed up to watch Lionel Messi train with his teammates from Inter Miami. The event was held in Hong Kong.

In anticipation of a match that was scheduled to take place on Sunday, the Hong Kong Stadium attracted a large number of spectators who were eager to catch a glimpse of the Argentina superstar, who is widely considered to be the best player of his generation.

Expectant fans were building lengthy lines outside the arena with a capacity of 40,000, chanting the name of the World Cup-winning captain, hours before Inter Miami was scheduled to walk onto the pitch for an open training session.

In addition to being a co-owner of the Major League Soccer club, David Beckham also made an appearance, which was met with enormous cheers from an audience that was nearly full.

However, the applause that Messi, who is 36 years old, received as he emerged to join his colleagues on the pitch for a light workout nearly caused the ceiling to collapse a few minutes later.

In order to safeguard a nagging hamstring injury, the eight-time winner of the Ballon d’Or spent the majority of the hour-long exercise stretching. However, he did join eighty fortunate youngsters from Hong Kong for a kickabout during a coaching clinic that followed.

As soon as that happened, Beckham took leadership of instructing the children in various talents.

The thousands of supporters had mostly come to watch Messi, however, in preparation for a friendly match against a Hong Kong Select XI that was scheduled to take place on Sunday.

“It’s the first time in my life that I see Messi,” said Li Weiyi, a Chinese student who was 17 years old and had traveled from Shenzhen, which is located on the mainland of China, to mainland China.

“I am experiencing a great deal of excitement. For me, he is really important. He introduced me to the world of football, and he instilled in me a passion for the sport.

The vast majority of supporters wore pink Inter Miami shirts or blue and white striped Argentina shirts.

‘The very greatest ever’

“He is very skilled, and it is very enjoyable to watch him play,” said Sally Liu, a student from Hong Kong who was wearing a T-shirt celebrating Messi and Argentina’s victory in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Liu was wearing the shirt.

It is unlikely that I will have many opportunities to witness him in the future because he is now playing in Miami. I have one more opportunity left.

Because he is the best ever. When they won the world championship, I burst into tears.

A large number of people had congregated in front of the team hotel, which is located in the southern part of the city, on Friday in the hope of catching a glimpse of their idol.

The likeness of Lionel Messi was painted on the sails of a classic junk boat that was sailing around the harbor. The sails were painted in the pink colors belonging to Inter Miami.

When tickets for the match that was scheduled to take place on Sunday went on sale in December, they were purchased in an hour and sold out. Additionally, sports stores stated that Messi shirts were flying off the shelves.

Messi has been nursing a strained hamstring throughout the rigorous tour that the club has been on. The tour will have seen them play six games in a span of 19 days prior to the beginning of the Major League Soccer season on February 21.

In Saudi Arabia on Thursday night, he was only there for the final few minutes of a friendly match against Al Nassr, which resulted in a loss by a score of 6-0.

Gerardo Martino, the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, told the media that the team will evaluate each player after training because they have been participating in a significant number of preseason games.

“The aspiration is that Leo (Messi) can play as many minutes as possible.”

In addition, Martino is eager to secure Miami’s first victory on the preseason trip that is taking the team all over the world.

Following a 0-0 draw against the national team in El Salvador, they suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of FC Dallas, a team from the Major League Soccer.

The previous week, Miami went to Saudi Arabia and suffered a humiliating loss to Al Nassr before suffering a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Al Hilal.

A friendly match against Vissel Kobe will take place in Japan on Wednesday, marking the conclusion of the tour.