The border police detained him for 2 hours as the 35-year old was travelling with his Spanish passport and not his Argentine one.
Beijing: Argentina superstar footballer Lionel Messi had to go through a tough time at Beijing Airport, after he was stopped by border police over a confusion of his passport.
Messi arrived in China by his private jet and joined his Argentine teammates in the national camp. The border police detained him for 2 hours as the 35-year old was travelling with his Spanish passport and not his Argentine one. The video of Messi being questioned for his passport has now gone viral on social media.
Chinese border police briefly detained Messi as they didn’t recognise his visa 😂😂😂 Book your holiday flights to Xi Jinping’s police state now everybody! pic.twitter.com/LN5EhMTIKC
— Drew Pavlou (@DrewPavlou) June 12, 2023
As per reports, Messi thought that he could travel to Taiwan with a Spanish passport, so the same law applies for China as well.
”Is Taiwan not China?”, he was quoted as saying.
Defending world champions Argentina will play a friendly match against Australia on Sunday.
Last week, the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner shocked everyone after agreeing to a move to Major League Soccer (MLS) side Inter Miami CF. It was a tussle between Barcelona and Miami and the Argentine made up his decision to move to the United States.
Inter Miami is owned by another football legend, David Beckham and the Florida-based club is playing professionally for the last 3 years.
The former PSG man once admitted that he wanted to play in the MLS and now it has become a reality. Miami currently plays in the Eastern Conference of the MLS and are languishing at the bottom of the table in the ongoing season.