Messi mania grips crowd at China’s Workers’ Stadium

On a hot summer night in Beijing, Lionel Messi scored against Australia just 90 seconds into the game, sending tens of thousands of Chinese fans into raptures.

It was a sea of blue and white Argentina jerseys in the Chinese capital on Thursday night - and nearly all of them had the name Messi on the back.

Every summer, Beijing usually hosts an invitational friendly soccer game. This time, the organisers chose a team headed by a player who could attract attention in China perhaps like no other.

Supporters turned out in their droves, not so much to barrack for this renowned team as to applaud a man who's long appeared on billboards here, selling all manner of products.

This was star power marketing in a country under-served by top level sport.

The cheers echoed around the stands - Meeessssiii Meeessssiii - but only occasionally Ahhh-gen-ting! (Chinese for Argentina).

The tickets for the game were sold at exorbitant rates, the vast majority of them going for between $400 and $680 (£313 to £532), prompting jokes on Chinese social media that these were hardly the prices you might expect at the newly rebuilt Workers' Stadium.

And yet 68,000 of them were gobbled up in a flash, with spectators coming from all over China.
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