New Delhi, Dec 15 (UNI) Argentine football great Lionel Messi along with his fellow World Cup-winning compatriot Rodrigo de Paul and former Uruguay star Luis Suarez enthralled football fans at Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Monday.
Hordes of fans who packed the stadium and waited for Messi for several hours, braving the chilly weather and poor air quality, lustily cheered as Messi and the two footballers entered the stadium.
The cheers of “Messi, Messi” perhaps somewhat compensated for the chaotic opening of the Messi tour in Kolkata, where irate fans vandalised the Salt Lake stadium after they were unable to have a proper glimpse of the Argentine genius.
As the football legends stepped onto the field in the national capital, they greeted local players of the ‘Celebrity Messi All Stars’ and ‘Minerva Messi All Stars’ – the two sides that had played an exhibition match at the stadium – with handshakes and warm smiles. The gestures triggered loud applause, as fans waved hundreds of flags and frantically captured the golden moments on their mobile cameras.
The trio then went around the stadium kicking footballs into the crowds. Much to the delight of the fans, those included the 2026 FIFA World Cup official ball. Making the fans more ecstatic, Messi, Rodrigo de Paul and Luis Suarez played ‘Rondo’ (single-touch football passing) with budding footballers.
Messi was a picture of ‘captain cool’ as he strolled the greens, and gave away autographs.
Though the Argentine legend was the star of the show, the crowd was also very appreciative of Rodrigo de Paul and Luis Suarez, as chants of “De Paul, De Paul, Suarez, Suarez” also reverberated around the stadium.
In his short address to the crowd in Spanish, the eight-time Ballon d’or winner said “Thank you for all the affection you have shown us here in India, over these days. Truly, it was a unique experience for us to be able to share this. Although it was intense and very short, it was wonderful to receive all this love, which I already knew was there, but to receive it first-hand was, well, amazing.”
“Everything you did for us over these days was astonishing, pure madness. So thank you all for the love, and we will surely return someday, perhaps to play a match, or on some other occasion – but we will definitely visit again. Thank you very much, thank you.”
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, International Cricket Council President Jay Shah, President of the Delhi & District Cricket Association Rohan Jaitley and former Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutia greeted Messi, De Paul and Suarez on the stage.
Jay Shah presented Messi with the Team India No 10 jersey, Luis Suarez and De Paul were also presented with Team India jerseys.
The Delhi leg proved a big success, drawing a huge crowd, overwhelming majority of which were youngsters. People had come even from far-flung states, and some of the fans even borrowed money to buy the high-priced tickets.
Chetan Tiwari, Minerva Academy trainee, who was part of the Minerva Messi All Stars, said that he still can’t believe that he shook hands with the legend. “It was like a dream sequence, surreal… he came up to me and shook my hands, I will never forget this day.”
XII standard Kendriya Vidyalaya student Aditya said he could not control his tears at seeing Messi so close to him “we are currently having our Pre board exams, but we still came. I could not control my tears seeing him in front of me, even my friends cried, he even noticed me, made eye contact with me,”
KCC College student Rohit Thakur said that he borrowed money to attend the event “My ticket cost Rs. 4720, I borrowed money to come here, it was thoroughly worth it”.
Tripura University second-year student Soham came all the way from Agartala for the event. “I came from Agartala. My ticket cost almost Rs 6000. It was such a pleasure seeing Messi in our country. When I go back home, I will say that I got to see God.
The football legend’s flight to Delhi from Mumbai was delayed due to fog and poor visibility, and his itinerary had to be curtailed. Rumours that he would be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned out to be incorrect as the leader took off for a three-nation trip in the morning.
The ‘GOAT’ tour started on December 13, when he visited Kolkata and Hyderabad.
From Hyderabad, he flew to Mumbai on December 14 and arrived in New Delhi this afternoon.
This was Messi’s second visit to India. The ball magician earlier came to India in 2011, when he wore the Argentine team captain’s armband for the first time. Argentina won that match against Venezuela 1-0.
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