Messi to meet PM Modi
Lionel Messi, the Argentine football icon, is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his official residence in Delhi on Monday. This meeting will be part of Messi’s Delhi leg, following his controversial trip to Kolkata on Saturday, a successful visit to Hyderabad, and an eventful stay in Mumbai on Sunday.
Messi will also meet the Chief Justice of India and the Army Chief at the residence of Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel, a former president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF). The final day of the GOAT India Tour will also feature Messi interacting with two Indian cricketers at the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium.
Messi will arrive in the national Capital at 10.45 am, and after a 50-minute ‘Meet and Greet’ session at a city hotel, he will head to the PM’s residence, where he will spend 20 minutes interacting with Modi.
His next stop will be the residence of an MP, where he is also set to meet the Argentine Ambassador to India, Mariano Agustin Caucino, besides CJI Justice Surya Kant and Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi.
The chief of the Enforcement Directorate, Rahul Navin, is also likely to be part of the select gathering at the MP’s house, which will also comprise a few top Government officials. After he meets with the VVIPs, Messi’s convoy will leave for the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium, where a few programmes are lined up.
At 3:30 pm, Messi is scheduled to enter the stadium via the walkway leading to the pitch, where cars will be waiting to take him directly to the airport after the GOAT concert ends. He will receive a grand welcome with music, then head to a small soccer field where Indian celebrities are playing a match. Messi will greet the players and take a group photo with the teams. A football clinic for 22 children is scheduled from 3:55 pm to 4:15 pm. Afterwards, he will move to the centre of the field, where two Indian cricketers will present him with a gift, and he will give them two pre-signed jerseys in return.
Lionel Messi arrived in Mumbai on Sunday under “World Cup-level” security measures, marking the second day of his four-city ‘GOAT India Tour 2025’. He was accompanied by Inter Miami teammates Luis Suarez and Rodrigo de Paul as he reached the iconic Wankhede Stadium for the main event of the tour.
Mumbai Police put in place stringent security arrangements, including restrictions on carrying water bottles, metal objects and coins inside the venues, while watchtowers have also been set up to monitor the crowd.
Messi had arrived in India in the wee hours of Saturday, but the opening leg of the tour in Kolkata quickly descended into chaos later in the day due to poor crowd management and security lapses. However, his evening programme in the Hyderabad leg stood in stark contrast to the mayhem in Kolkata, proceeding smoothly and concluding on a positive note.
