BEIJING – Chinese football fans are unhappy that they will need to shell out up to US$680 (S$915) to see Lionel Messi lead Argentina against Australia in a Beijing friendly on June 15.
The game at the 68,000-capacity Workers’ Stadium is a rematch of Argentina and Australia’s meeting in the last 16 of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
Messi, who will play his final game for French giants Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday, scored in a 2-1 win for Argentina and they went on to lift the World Cup.
Tickets ranging from 580 yuan (S$110) to 4,800 yuan will go on sale in two batches, on Monday and Thursday, the organisers said.
Disgruntled fans online quickly decried the prices for the exhibition game.
“I’m reporting you for robbery,” one user on the Twitter-like Weibo commented on the organisers’ official account. “For 4,800, will Messi carry us on his back while he plays?” wrote another.
It will be the Argentinian superstar’s first visit to China since 2017.
Strict steps are being taken to prevent scalping, with spectators required to provide identification information and show identity cards or passports to enter the stadium.
But merchants on China’s Taobao shopping platform immediately began offering booking services for the tickets, with one seller charging 18,000 yuan for what they claimed was access to VIP seats.
Messi, meanwhile, will soon reveal his future – but hopes of a romantic return to Barcelona are fading. The forward, who turns 36 in late June, is Barcelona’s all-time record scorer and was forced to wave a tearful goodbye in 2021 at the end of his contract, with the club unable to afford to keep him.
Coach Xavi Hernandez has been pushing hard for the World Cup winner to return, but Barcelona are waiting for La Liga to approve a financial viability plan ahead of spending in the summer transfer window.
“At the moment it seems difficult for Messi to return to Barca,” said La Liga president Javier Tebas in April. “Barca are not like PSG, who have a fuel tap and money for a big salary.”
La Liga’s financial fair play rules currently limit Barcelona to spending 40 per cent of any savings made through salary cuts or player sales, because of the club’s losses.
Even if they bring in enough new income to break free of the league’s financial handcuffs, what they can offer Messi would be modest. By contrast, he will be paid a king’s ransom elsewhere, into the hundreds of millions of US dollars.
Messi reportedly has an agreement to move to the Saudi Arabian league, joining his former sparring partner Cristiano Ronaldo in the Gulf state. AFP
