Tens of thousands of football fans flocked to Hong Kong to watch Lionel Messi train with his Inter Miami teammates as "Messi mania" spread throughout the city on Saturday.
Before a game on Sunday, supporters went to the Hong Kong Stadium to see the Argentine legend, the best player of his generation, after police blocked off the surrounding streets, according to AFP.
Anticipating spectators queued up outside the 40,000-seat stadium hours before Inter Miami took to the pitch for an open training session, chanting the name of the World Cup-winning captain.
David Beckham, who co-owns the Major League Soccer team, made an appearance to resounding applause from a nearly full crowd.
However, the 36-year-old Messi's reception when he emerged to join his colleagues on the pitch for a light workout almost brought the roof down a few minutes later.
The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner addressed a lingering hamstring injury by spending the majority of the hour-long practice stretching, but he did participate in a kickabout with 80 fortunate Hong Kong students during a coaching clinic that followed.
Beckham promptly took on the responsibility of imparting some skills to the children.
However, the primary reason the thousands of fans turned up was to witness Messi, as the team was set to play a friendly against a Hong Kong Select XI on Sunday.
“It’s the first time in my life I see Messi,” said 17-year-old Chinese student Li Weiyi, who had travelled from Shenzhen, across the border in mainland China.
“I am feeling very excited. He means a lot to me. He brought me to the football world, he made me love football," he added.
The majority of fans wore pink Inter Miami or blue and white striped Argentina shirts.
