A young Chinese football player made an apology to Lionel Messi on his Sina Weibo for not standing up to shake the superstar's hand after he and his teammates were widely criticized on social media.

During a Chinese reality show, 16-year-old Li Boxi remained seated along with his teammates from Beijing Guoan Football Club when Messi, the famous Argentinean footballer, shook their hands. The players' behavior was quickly picked up by social media and drew widespread criticism for what many called "an ill-bred and impolite gesture."

"Those uneducated kids should feel ashamed of themselves. Messi took the initiative and approached them, while they acted arrogantly as if they were stars," said a Weibo user.

Li apologized to Messi on Sunday, explaining that he didn't act the way he did because he doesn't like the Barcelona forward, but because he felt disappointed in the show's producer and did not expect Messi would meet them.

"According to the TV show's producer, only four out of 16 players can meet Messi in person. We were only filmed in the locker room and were quite upset about it," Li said, adding that "we were still upset when Messi came in. His appearance shocked us."

The TV show asked the  Guoan players to select for four representatives to challenge Messi, so those who were not chosen thought they would not meet him, news site sports.sina.com reported Monday.