GOAT India Tour: Hyderabad gets it right with Lionel Messi

HYDERABAD: After the fiasco of Kolkata earlier in the day, this city held its collective nerve to keep its date with Lionel Messi on Saturday.

The city wore a festive look in anticipation of the Argentine super star’s arrival, but the state government machinery here was forced into overdrive after the event in Kolkata unravelled and put the whole G.O.A.T India Tour 2025 in peril.



Fans turned up in large numbers from the neighbouring states of Kerala and Karnataka and the govt aided the build-up by billing it as a match between Messi and chief minister Revanth Reddy.

With the CM taking active interest, what was a packed schedule for Messi became more hectic.

Messi was to oblige fans who paid nearly Rs 12 lakh (with tax) for a photo-op with him and an autographed Argentina jersey and greet fans at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium, where ticket prices ranged between Rs 2,250 and Rs 30,000.

A kickabout between Messi and the CM was squeezed into the schedule after a concert by Rahul Sipligunj of RRR fame.

Tension mounted as the clock ticked past 4.30 pm and Messi’s plane landed at the Shamshabad airport around the same time when news trickled in that Satadru Dutta, the event’s chief organiser, was detained by the Kolkata police.

The unease dissipated when images started emerging of Messi walking out of the airport and reaching the swank hotel in the old city, where he obliged 250 autograph seekers.

Meanwhile, security was beefed up at the Uppal stadium as fans began taking their seats when the gates opened at 4 pm. A laser show and Sipligunj kept the crowd entertained as Messi headed to the stadium along with the CM and leader of opposition, Rahul Gandhi.

A wave from the legend was all that they had come for. Kolkata became a distant dream.


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