By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp
The China Football Association temporarily halted its partnership with the Argentine Football Association and purged almost all news regarding Lionel Messi from its official website, according to Chinese media outlets.
It came after Messi did not show up for Sunday's friendly match against Hong Kong XI.
Inter Miami's Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez also did not play against Hong Kong XI and head coach Gerardo Martino said Messi and Suarez did not play because "a decision was taken together with the medical team."
Messi, who failed to play in the Hong Kong friendly because of an injury, played for more than 30 minutes Wednesday in the friendly match against Japanese club Vissel Kobe.
The 36-year-old Argentine superstar said in a statement that he wanted to attend the game and it was a pity he could not play due to a groin injury.
However, the fact that he wrote the words "China" and "Hong Kong" side by side was deemed disrespectful by aggrieved fans who demanded an apology.
It also did not help that fans saw Messi and Suarez playing in the friendly in Japan.
Inter Miami will next face Messi's boyhood club, Newell's Old Boys of Argentina, in a friendly in the US state of Florida on Feb. 16.