Jakarta. The plane carrying the Argentinian football team arrived at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang Friday evening but the sport’s superstar Lionel Messi became a notable absentee as Indonesian officials welcomed every player and put batik scarf around their neck.

The world champion will have a friendly with the Indonesian team on Monday and all 60,000 tickets costing from Rp 600,000 ($40) are already sold out.

All tickets were sold before the news about Messi's absence broke.

“Welcome to Indonesia the Argentinian team. I hope they enjoy and feel comfortable playing here,” Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) Chairman Erick Thohir said.

He came to the airport to greet Coach Lionel Scaloni and all players in person, accompanied by his deputy Zainudin Amali.

The visitors flew from China where they beat Australia 2-0 in a friendly a day earlier. Indonesia also had a friendly against Palestine in a goalless match in Surabaya on Wednesday.

Reports said that not just Messi, but veteran winger Angel Di Maria will not participate in the upcoming match either.

But the PSSI claimed on its website that public enthusiasm for the Indonesia-Argentina match remains high regardless of Messi’s absence, pointing to many other big names playing in European top leagues.

The Argentina squad still has Julian Alvarez who helped Manchester City win the club’s first-ever Champions League trophy and Gonzalo Montiel who recently won Europa League with Sevilla.

There are also several players familiar to Premiere League fans in Indonesia, including Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho and Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez.

Add as a preferred source on Google +