Inter Miami land in Japan for their final preseason friendly overseas… but do thousands more fans face disappointment of missing Lionel Messi as he struggles with a hamstring injury?

Inter Miami have landed in Tokyo for the final leg of their global pre-season tour and a day after their controversial visit to Hong Kong.

The MLS franchise were fiercely criticized after star man Lionel Messi was an unused substitute during their 4-1 win over a Hong Kong XI on Sunday.

Around 40,000 had splashed out on tickets to catch a glimpse of Messi in action but he remained rooted to the bench after suffering a hamstring strain during the tour’s previous leg in Saudi Arabia.

David Beckham, the team’s president and co-owner, was booed as he gave a speech at full time while furious fans chanted ‘refund’ and even kicked Messi’s head off an advertising board outside the stadium.

The Hong Kong government also demanded answers from organizers after they had given a grant to allow the game to take place. Inter Miami’s coach Gerardo Martino also begged for ‘forgiveness’ after not putting Messi on.    

It’s unclear whether Messi will play against Vissel Kobe on Wednesday because of his injury

Jordi Alba was all smiles as he got off the plane in Tokyo – where they will play Vissel Kobe

David Ruiz walks through the plane as he hopes to impress ahead of the new MLS season

David Beckham’s team are currently preparing for the new MLS season later this month

They will surely be relieved that their tour has reached its final destination with one more game, against Vissel Kobe, scheduled for Wednesday.

It remains to be seen whether Messi will play because of his hamstring issue but he was pictured getting off the team’s plane on Monday.

Teammate and fellow Barcelona star Jordi Alba was all smiles as he got off in Tokyo while their other teammates followed behind.

It comes 24 hours after the chaotic scenes in Hong Kong. Messi only played seven minutes of their defeat by Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr last week because of a hamstring issue.

He then didn’t feature at all on Sunday – alongside Luis Suarez – which didn’t go down well with locals. 

Echoing the fans’ anger, the Hong Kong government said it could withdraw $2million of funding to the organizers that helped bring Inter Miami to the city. 

‘The organizer owes all football fans an explanation,’ it said.

It was reportedly made clear to fans when they purchased tickets that there would be no refunds issued if Messi didn’t play.

A tight hamstring kept the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner on the sidelines with Luis Suarez

Fans had paid huge sums to watch Messi in action but they were denied the chance on Sunday

Miami coach Gerardo Martino said the club’s medical team had taken the decision after an assessment on Sunday morning.

‘We understand the disappointment of the fans for the absence of Leo (Messi),’ Martino told reporters.

‘We understand a lot of fans are very disappointed and we ask for their forgiveness.

‘We wish we could have sent Leo on for at least a while but the risk was too big.’

Halfway through the second half, chants of ‘We want Messi’ rose around the Hong Kong Stadium from fans desperate to see the greatest footballer of his generation in the much-hyped exhibition game.

The booing became louder during the last 10 minutes when it became clear that the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner would not make even the briefest of cameos.

In a statement, organizers of the event – dubbed ‘Tatler XFEST’ – expressed their ‘extreme disappointment’ that neither Messi nor his Uruguayan teammate Suarez took part in the match.

‘Despite some news reports, Tatler did not have any information about the non-participation of Messi or Suarez prior to kick off,’ they said.