Messi in Hong Kong: how can Miami-style tours satisfy Asia fans? Barcelona’s Ilkay Gundogan has a solution
- Cramming in too many fixtures makes the trips ‘challenging’ for players who genuinely want to see new places and meet fans, Gundogan says
- ‘I have experience of going to three different countries in 10 days,’ he says. ‘It makes it very difficult’
Barcelona midfielder Ilkay Gundogan says condensing Far East tours could help visiting football teams avoid repeating the Lionel Messi affair in Hong Kong.
European clubs have long jetted to the region in preseason, balancing preparation for competitions back home with exploring new markets and earning appearance money.
Inter Miami, aiming to establish a global following, sought to cash in on Messi-mania with visits to El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Japan as they got ready for their domestic Major League Soccer campaign.
That upped the demands on the 36-year-old former Barcelona talisman Messi, who had nursed several minor strains in recent months, leading to his non-playing appearance in Hong Kong and an extraordinary outcry.
Gundogan, now playing for Messi’s old club, came to Hong Kong in 2019 with Manchester City. Three days after facing local club Kitchee, he was playing against Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan.
