On Wednesday afternoon, Lionel Messi captivated an audience of more than 2.5 million viewers during a 20 minute-long livestream on Alibaba’s Taobao Live platform. The event was hosted by e-commerce influencer Li Xuanzhuo and He Wei, a football commentator from China’s state broadcaster. Li made it clear that any commercial aspects before, during, and after Messi’s appearance were unrelated to the Argentinian forward. The brief appearance saw Messi share his sentiments about his visit to China, his football career, and future plans. Towards the end of the conversation, the hosts presented Messi with zongzi, sticky rice dumplings traditionally enjoyed during the Dragon Boat Festival. Messi also extended his wishes to the watching fans for a “peaceful and healthy Dragon Boat Festival” in Mandarin Chinese, ahead of the three-day traditional holiday commencing on June 22. [Yicai, in Chinese]