His arrival was announced in a post on the organizer International Football Invitation’s official Weibo social media site with a video of players stepping off a plane, ahead of Thursday’s Argentina-Australia match in the Chinese capital’s recently rebuilt Workers’ Stadium.
Lionel Messi, who lifted the World Cup in Qatar in December and is widely considered to be one of the game’s all-time greats, confirmed this week that he will leave French champions Paris St Germain for the U.S. league.
This is the seventh visit to China for the Argentina captain, and his first since 2017.
Messi has always received a fervent welcome on his previous visits to China, which has a huge soccer fan base despite the struggles of the men’s national team, who have played at the World Cup only once.
Australia and Argentina last met at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in the round of 16, where Messi was among the scorers as his team won 2-1.
