TOKYO: Of the many short videos that have spooled across social media since the debacle in Hong Kong on Sunday (Feb 4), the finest captures an enraged spectator kicking Lionel Messi’s head clean off his neck.
The savagery - unleashed after an injured Messi failed to play in a showcase match on the island - was inflicted on a life-sized cut-out of the eight-time Ballon d’Or-winning superstar, which stood outside the Hong Kong Stadium.
The Argentine striker’s four cardboard compadres, teammates from the Inter Miami pantheon, remained unharmed. The fact that this moment was filmed, posted and has since gone viral is not incidental to the mass disappointment and madness that has ballooned from Messi’s no-show, but germane.
Hong Kong, already smarting at the idea that its venues are being left out by entertainment megastars, felt slighted and swindled: Messi did not even give them a speech to record on their phones and offset the disappointment.