Messi sees India through and through in three days – Firstpost

Three days is not a lot to know about the vast landmass that is India. However, Lionel Messi got as good an idea about this beautiful place as one can get in three days.

He saw that things can get chaotic very quickly in this place. He also saw that politicians will be closer to him than his own security persons. He also saw how much love this country, which is nowhere on the footballing map, has for him. And then he saw the God himself — Sachin Tendulkar.

The Kolkata chaos

Kolkata loves its football. Fans had packed the Salt Lake Stadium last time Messi visited India for a friendly against Venezuela in 2011. They had yet again filled the arena to its capacity to get the glimpse of Messi, no matter the holes it burnt in their pockets.

However, once the VIPs got hold of him in the Salt Lake, they just did not let Messi wander anywhere else. There was an unending procession of photos, autographs and what not. Fans in the stands just saw these VIPs gathered around Messi. That the footballer is not very tall also did not help.

Messi lovers absolutely lost it once they realised they would not be able to see him.
Chaos followed and it became a matter of international shame.

However, once the Kolkata part was done, better sense prevailed.

Catch it if you can

تعب القوت pic.twitter.com/r4WBrDlZDg

— Messi World (@M10GOAT) December 13, 2025

To keep Messi away from the ball is a task where teams have consistently failed over the years. However, once the ball landed at the feet of Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, we saw how it can be done.

Messi’s second stop after Kolkata was Hyderabad and there Reddy flexed his football skills to the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner.

Reddy showed that if you cannot keep Messi away from the ball, just kick the ball far away from Messi. His totally inaccurate passes to Messi were passed off on the Internet as the incapability of Indian professional players to land a simple pass.

After the chaos of Kolkata, Messi would have been spooked. But Hyderabad, known for its ‘mehmaan nawaazi’, treated the star well.

Meet-up with God

It can be safely argued that Messi has no idea what cricket is. At best, one can think that he knows that something called cricket exists but nothing further than that.

In Mumbai, Messi must have been told that he would be meeting with someone called Sachin Tendulkar and that he is a big deal in this country. But how big? This Messi would get to know once the Wankhede Stadium would start chanting Sachin… Sachin…

Sachin met Messi and gifted him a #10 jersey, the number both the greats share. It was a meet-up of the God of cricket with the GOAT of football and the ones who saw it, will cherish the moment for long.

Messi was also greeted by Sunil Chhetri, who for a long time in his career was competing with the Argentinian superstar in the leaderboard of most international goals.

Messi’s World Cup moment

In Delhi,
Messi was felicitated by International Cricket Council chairman Jay Shah. Messi was gifted with a bat and a jersey which Indian team will wear at the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Messi took a good look at the jersey and even discussed with his Inter Miami teammate Rodrigo de Paul as to what things written on the front could mean.

Also, Shah honoured Messi with an invitational ticket for India’s opening match at the T20 World Cup against the United States. While he has played six football World Cups, this is perhaps the closest he has got to a cricket World Cup.

In just three days, Messi witnessed India in more ways than he would have imagined.

His journey from Kolkata to Delhi via Hyderabad and Mumbai saw him map the East, South, West and North of India. He would have seen different languages all around the four cities. And of course he would not have missed the AQI difference between the cities as well.

In the end, he will also get to see a bit of wildlife in India as he stays at Vantara before leaving the country.

This is perhaps the most one can see in three days in India.