Barcelona legend Lionel Messi has released an apology video for not playing in a friendly while injured, following an incident during Inter Miami’s preseason.

Inter Miami were due to play a friendly against a Hong Kong XI on the fourth of February, where tickets had been charged at a premium as a result of Messi’s presence. However fans reacted angrily when Messi was not able to play due to injury, whistling him whenever his image appeared at the stadium.

It became such a storm of controversy, that the Hong Kong Government got involved. The brand that brought the match to Hong Kong originally had it funded by a Government grant of €2m, which had been approved. However after the reaction, lifestyle and media brand Tatler Asia withdrew the grant application, and Tatler Asia refunded half the price of the tickets, which were in excess of €500 at the top end.

“Hong Kong people hate Messi, Inter Miami, and the black hand behind them, for the deliberate and ­calculated snub to Hong Kong. He should never be allowed to return to Hong Kong,” tweeted Regina Ip, the convenor of the Executive Council in Hong Kong.

Messi has since released an apology video, denying false reports that he had not played due to political reasons or something beyond an injury, explaining that he had an inflamed adductor and could not play as a result.

As per Esport3, this did little to placate fans, and the post received over 2m interactions on Chinese social media site Weibo. Fans were angry that Messi did not explicitly apologise, and instead stuck to the injury as his reason for not playing.