 "Lionel Messi acknowledged the crowd at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. Reuters")
Lionel Messi will be paying a visit to the animal conservation center Vantara in Gujarat’s Jamnagar before leaving India. Messi’s final phase of his tour to India, dubbed as GOAT India Tour 2025, ended on Monday in New Delhi where he visited the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Messi along with his Luis Suarez and others will be staying at the Vantara centre in Jamnagar overnight before he leaves India. He will be hosted by Anant Ambani, Director, Reliance Industries Limited in the animal conservation center.
A few weeks ago, Vantara also hosted Donald Trump Jr and Messi becomes the latest in the list of dignitaries from and India and abroad who have visited the center. Previously, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also toured the centre.
Messi enthralls Delhi crowd
Messi ended his India tour on Monday in New Delhi with a huge crowd gathered at the Arun Jaitley Stadium to see their favourite superstar.
Upon arrival, Messi took a lap of the ground smiling, and watched the 9x9 celebrity match coming to an end, even as the spectators, many of whom were dressed in the famous blue and white Argentine jersey bearing No. 10, chanted his name continuously.
He was seen kicking the ball at the stands along with his Inter Miami teammates Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul while taking a round of the venue that registered an attendance of around 25000.
Messi and his teammates were gifted with a bat and special jerseys of the Indian team that they will don in the upcoming T20 World Cup by ICC Chairman Jay Shah.
Apart from Shah, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, DDCA President Rohan Jaitley and former Indian football team captain Bhaichung Bhutia were also present in the ground to meet the Argentinian superstar.
Earlier, Messi had spent Sunday in Mumbai after spending a busy and chaotic Saturday in Hyderabad and Kolkata.
(With PTI Inputs)