The fiasco surrounding the absence of football superstar Lionel Messi from the Argentine team for a friendly game here on Tuesday night has left a bad taste in the mouths of football fans in Singapore (Unscrupulous move to bank on Messi to draw fans, by Mr Mohamad Farid Harunal Rashid; June 13).

Two months ago, the marketing material for this game clearly indicated that Argentina would field a full-strength team.

Fans were led to believe that Messi and fellow stars like Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain would play some part in the match.

Now that none of them did, it is hard to see how this cannot be interpreted as serious misrepresentation.

It is probably safe to say that the number of tickets match promoter Unicess would have sold would not be anywhere close to what it actually sold, had Messi's absence been made known to fans earlier.

For the organisers to just make an announcement that Messi will not be playing and not make any effort whatsoever to soften the massive disappointment fans felt is not acceptable.

A full refund could result in financial costs for Unicess, more than what it is willing to bear.

But a partial refund will go a long way towards maintaining the goodwill of local football fans.

Edwin Chan Siang Lin