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Lionel Messi’s India tour ended in a memorable way in Delhi, the legendary Argentinian footballer said – ‘I will come again’

By Samira Vishwas

New Delhi15 December. The much-awaited GOAT India Tour of Lionel Messi, the uncrowned king of the contemporary football world, may have started in a chaotic manner, but the three-day tour concluded on a grand note in the national capital Delhi on Monday, where the fans jumped with joy after getting a glimpse of their favorite player.

The Argentinian legend gave his fans a memorable moment at the Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium in just 30 minutes and promised to be back. Messi fans got a glimpse of the man who often gives ‘unmatched’ performances on the field.

The craze for Messi reached its peak when he took the mic and addressed the fans in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, ICC President Jay Shah and former Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutia, among many others. He told the audience, ‘I want to thank everyone for the love and affection I have received in India these days. In fact it was a very beautiful experience for us.

 

,We will cherish all this love with us and will definitely return,

Despite most of the people present in the stadium not understanding the Spanish language, Lionel’s words created a passion and excitement in the audience that had rarely been seen before. Messi said, ‘Even though it is a short visit, it is amazing to receive so much love. I already knew about this craziness, but experiencing it firsthand was even more amazing. Whatever we felt during these days was an incredible experience for us.

Messi, who was the captain of the 2022 world-winning Argentine team, said, ‘We will cherish all this love with us and we will definitely return. Hopefully someday to play a match or on some other occasion, but we will definitely travel to India. Thank you very much.’

After a chaotic start on Saturday in Kolkata, the most important thing was that the widely publicized and much-awaited event ended exactly as the organizers wanted. Along with the crowd of thousands that gathered in the Kotla’s spectators’ gallery, some of the Indian celebrities and dignitaries present inside the ground were enthralled with the excitement of hosting one of the world’s most respected sportspersons. Fans were overwhelmed by the player’s uncanny talent, humility and the impact he has single-handedly given to the game over the past two decades.

After reaching the stadium, Messi took a tour of the field and saw the match of seven players ending. Most of the spectators in the stadium were wearing Argentina’s famous blue and white jersey (number 10) and were continuously chanting ‘Messi Messi’. Messi was smiling and waving towards the audience. He had tried to do the same in Kolkata, but on Saturday he was surrounded by politicians and their associates at the Salt Lake Stadium. However, such situation was not there in Delhi.

Messi honored Minerva Academy team

While Messi was being showered with ‘confetti’, he circled the stadium with his Inter Miami teammates Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul, occasionally tossing the ball towards the spectators. About 25,000 people were present in the stadium. Messi honored the Minerva Academy team and played football with the children after posing for photos with them. All three shook hands with the children and greeted them with smiles.

Jay Shah presented Team India’s number 10 jersey to Messi.

During this, ICC President Jay Shah presented the number 10 jersey of the Indian cricket team to Messi. Suarez was given the number nine jersey and De Paul was given the number seven jersey. Meanwhile, Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) level had reached a dangerous level of 452 in the morning, due to which some people were heard raising slogans of ‘AQI AQI’ when Chief Minister Gupta reached the stadium.

Messi reached Delhi late by 4 hours due to fog

Due to bad weather, there was a lot of delay in Messi’s arrival from Mumbai to Delhi and the fans who came here from all over the country to get a glimpse of him were a little disappointed that despite waiting for five hours, Messi was present in the field for only half an hour. Messi was in Mumbai on the second day of his three-day India tour and was to reach Delhi at 10.45 am, but his chartered flight was delayed due to fog. He went straight to Leela Palace Hotel after reaching Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at 2.30 pm. He met with selected people there.

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