The Argentina national team will play a friendly against Indonesia on Monday; however, many fans attending the contest won’t be happy as soon-to-be former Paris Saint-Germain star Lionel Messi pulled out from the match.
One fan made a 12-hour boat and plane journey to the game and accused the organizers of false advertising regarding the matchup.
Football fans in the country have rushed to snap up over 60,000 tickets for the sell-out clash between Indonesia and 2022 FIFA World Cup winners Argentina after Messi’s face was plastered across advertising for the match.
“I’m feeling sad and disappointed, mixed emotions,” 31-year-old shop owner Surya Wijaya Ang told AFP (h/t Yahoo!). “This was the biggest chance for me to see Messi play in person …
“Messi is an icon and you can say that 90 percent of the tickets were sold because of Messi. This was a marketing strategy for them.”
Argentina beat Australia in another friendly on Thursday in the Chinese capital Beijing. Afterward, manager Lionel Scaloni confirmed that Messi would not make the Indonesian game as part of their Asian tour.
It is disappointing for fans who invested their finances in securing a ticket to see Messi only to find out that the 35-year-old won’t be making the trip, especially if the match was promoted with Messi being part of it.
