Lionel Messi didn’t show up to the Chicago Fire game on Wednesday night, but that didn’t bother Miguel Hernandez, who paid more than four times the price of the ticket as a surprise birthday present for his son.

The Bolingbrook dad said he was excited to be at Soldier Field because it was a “once-in-a-lifetime chance to see Messi, even on the bench.” There were waves of people wearing pink and black shirts with Messi’s name on them. Hernandez and his son Noe, who is 12, are both huge soccer fans. Hernandez coaches in a youth league in the suburbs, and Noe plays in the league.

Messi didn’t show up at all, which was bad for the father and son.

There was a big match between Inter Miami FC and the Fire, but the star Argentine soccer player did not show up.

“I’m not mad, I’m just sad,” Miguel Hernandez said. “You don’t understand the game if you’re mad that Messi isn’t playing.”

Riazuddin Mohideen, 48, came from Nebraska with his 8-year-old son just to see the game. He had some bad feelings about it. He said that each ticket cost him about $1,000 when he bought them two months ago.

He didn’t mind the price at the time because his son Haaziq “loves soccer and Messi is his favorite player.” But it made him sad when he learned that Messi wasn’t going to play. Mohideen said, “I’m sad, but thankful to be here with my son.”

Haaziq brought a poster cheering for Messi even when he wasn’t with him. He said, “I wanted to watch and cheer for both teams because Inter Miami has been losing lately.”

Even though most fans didn’t mind, Jose Lopez, 60, said that some street sellers were upset that Messi wasn’t going to play. Some sellers had bought shirts months ago, but they weren’t selling like they were supposed to.

“The price was too high. “He (Messi) can’t be that bad that he can’t at least show up for a short time,” Lopez, a soccer fan who had been helping a friend sell shirts, said.

When the Chicago Fire played Inter Miami, there was a sense of defeat in the air outside of Soldier Field, where fans had come to watch the game.

Fans paid a lot of money to see the world superstar perform. People who sold the tickets were asking hundreds or even thousands of dollars for them. As a way to raise money, local support groups raffled off tickets. In downtown Chicago, billboards with pictures of Messi appeared all over. The Fire quickly put together ticket packages that included tickets to other games besides the Inter-Miami match.

With the game getting more exciting, the Fire hoped that the record 54,432 fans who came to see them play against the Columbus Crew in 2005 could be broken.

Messi missed four of Inter Miami’s last five games and an international game for Argentina during that time, which made people less excited and more shocked. The prices of used tickets dropped so much that you could get one for as little as $50 on Monday.

The Fire said Tuesday that anyone who bought a single-game ticket to Wednesday’s game would get a $250 credit toward 2024 season tickets or a $50 credit for single-game tickets, “regardless of which players are able to make an appearance on the pitch.” They did this because they knew that many of the fans who bought tickets weren’t there to see their hometown team play.

The Fire said in a statement, “We don’t yet know the official status of Lionel Messi’s availability for our match tomorrow, as there’s never a guarantee that an athlete will play on any given night due to a number of factors. We understand that many of our fans may be disappointed if they don’t get the chance to see him play.” “We’re aware that many people will be attending a Chicago Fire game at Soldier Field for the first time. We’re excited to welcome them to the Fire Family and give them a chance to become long-term fans by making the atmosphere great for fans.”

It wasn’t known if Messi would play or not, but Wednesday’s game was seen as a must-win for the Fire as they try to hold on to the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Fire, D.C. United, and CF Montreál are all tied for ninth place in the Eastern Conference table. CF Montreál has the tiebreaker. The Fire need to win on Wednesday in order to make the playoffs for the first time since 2017—they only have three games left in the regular season.