Fans take photos of Lionel Messi on the bus on June 12, 2023. Photo: VCG

"Messi mania" in China was pushed to a new high as his 15-minute livestream on Wednesday, his first scheduled interaction with fans since he arrived in China, drew almost 3 million views. 

During the livestream, the football superstar sent greetings to his fans in Chinese, and also expressed regret that he had to spend most of his time in China in a hotel because of "fans' enthusiasm."

Messi joined an exclusive livestream event on Taobao, an Alibaba-backed e-commerce platform, at around 3 pm Wednesday. As part of his visit to China, the event generated nearly 3 million concurrent views as Chinese fans wished to interact with the global star.

During the approximately 15-minute show, Messi recalled his impressions of Beijing when he and the Argentina team came to the city last time to attend the Beijing Olympics in 2008. 

He expressed gratitude to enthusiastic Chinese fans, saying that he felt Chinese people are very warm and many fans followed the team when they did training at the stadium.

As the Dragon Boat Festival, an important traditional festival in China that falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, approaches, Messi said in Chinese "Wish you peace and health on Dragon Boat Festival" and chose a scented sachet for his family.

Scented sachets are tied with five-color silk threads to ward off evil, and wearing scented sachets is a traditional custom during the festival.

A total of 2.9 million people viewed the livestream. An audience member posted during the livestream, "Wish Messi happiness and health wherever he plays football."

The football superstar said that he can always feel the passion from Chinese fans. However, he expressed regret for only getting to know China and Beijing in hotels and training stadiums during his visits, because of such passion. 

All of Messi's on-site activities were canceled by organizers due to "security reasons." The team's training was also impeded as the "outrageously passionate" fans waiting outside of the Argentina Team's hotel made it such that the team, particularly the stellar Messi, was "unable to leave the hotel," the friendly's organizers told the media.

One hour after the livestream, topic of Messi soon made the top discussion of China's Twitter-like platform Sina Weibo, with more than 11 million reads. 

Messi mania was simmering in Beijing in recent days. A man posted a video showing that he was driving a car when Messi appeared in the camera in a bus driving by. The video went viral on the internet, and some fans said on Chinese lifestyle app Xiaohongshu that they are also driving in the area near Messi's hotel, to try their luck.

Rates for suites at the hotel in Beijing, where Messi and other Argentine players are staying, soared to 8,738 yuan ($1,216) and were fully booked on Monday. The rate on June 15, the day of the game, rose to 12,888 yuan, according to media reports.

Messi will lead world champions Argentina against Australia in a friendly in Beijing on Thursday.

A fan surnamed Guo from Shenzhen arrived in Beijing on Wednesday. Guo was among the lucky ones who snapped up a ticket priced at 2,800 yuan, the normal price. She claimed one of her friends had to spend 8,000 yuan for a scalped ticket to watch the match.

In an exclusive interview with the Global Times, the Argentine Ambassador to China, Sabino Vaca Narvaja, said "to all Argentine soccer fans and Chinese spectators: We are delighted by the enthusiasm you have shown, and hope that you can support our national team as usual in Thursday's match. With your care and support, we believe we will achieve excellent results. So, come on, Argentina!"