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Messi supporters ahead of his visit to Kolkata on Saturday. (ANI)
Playoffs, fan meet-and-greets, fashion shows, and, above all, a heady football fever. India is set to welcome football legend Lionel Messi on a three-day Greatest of All Times (GOAT) tour across Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.
The private tour — from Saturday to Monday — will see the icon follow a packed schedule, meeting VIPs and fans in stadiums, playing exhibition matches and interacting with young footballers. Sources said Messi’s Inter Miami teammate Luis Suárez and Argentinian midfielder Rodrigo De Paul will accompany him on the tour.
A day before his visit, Kolkata, where the tour begins, was drenched in Argentina’s celeste blue-and-white, with ‘Messi’ jerseys visible at every corner.
For the city, this visit is special, not only because Messi’s last trip here — and India — was in 2011, when he led Argentina to a 1-0 victory against Venezuela in a friendly at the Salt Lake Stadium, but also because of its love for the beautiful game.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner will start his Kolkata leg with a VIP meet-and-greet from 9:30-10:30 am, giving fans and dignitaries exclusive photos, autographs and chats at an undisclosed venue.
This will be followed by the showcase event — meeting 85,000 fans between 11 am and 1 pm at the Salt Lake Stadium. He will also virtually inaugurate ‘Monumento de Messi’ — a 70-foot statue of the star holding the World Cup at Lake Town.
Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan is scheduled to join the stadium event. Messi will also meet Sourav Ganguly and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee before leaving for the second leg, Hyderabad. At 4.30 pm Saturday, Messi will land at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and head to the Taj Falaknuma Palace, then proceed to the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, where he will face Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy in an exhibition match.
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The city is dotted with Messi posters. “Messi will play the last five minutes of the 15-minute game. In these five minutes, he will face off with Chief Minister Revanth Reddy who is a football player himself,” a GOAT organiser said. Reddy has been training for 45 minutes every day since the tour was announced, his aides told The Indian Express.
Messi will then train four teams of underprivileged children for five minutes.
In Mumbai Sunday, Messi is learnt to be scheduled to appear at the Padel Cup at the Cricket Club of India at 3:30 pm before heading to Wankhede Stadium at 5 pm for a meet-and-greet and a celebrity football match in which Messi will pass for some time.
He is scheduled to walk the ramp at a 45-minute charity fashion show Sunday night with Suárez and De Paul. Messi will also participate in the ‘GOAT Football Clinic’, where he will interact with 60 boys and girls chosen as part of ‘Project Mahadeva’, a grassroots football initiative in Maharashtra. Indian football icon Sunil Chhetri is expected to meet Messi. Others set to feature in the Mumbai leg include cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and actors John Abraham, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Jackie Shroff.
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The final leg of Messi’s tour will be in the national capital on December 15. Messi is scheduled to attend a meet-and-greet at the Leela Palace around 12 PM, with entry priced at Rs 10 lakh on District, the tour’s official ticketing platform.
He then heads to the Arun Jaitley Stadium around 1.30 pm for a 7v7 celebrity match. Players from the Minerva Academy, who won three trophies on a Europe tour this year, will also be felicitated.
Messi is scheduled to do a basic coaching clinic at the stadium, followed by a musical concert celebrating the Argentina great. Ticket prices start at Rs 4,720.
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