Messi mania grips Kolkata ahead of superstar’s arrival on December 13

Kolkata: If you walk through Kolkata’s Maidan market, you’ll see stalls glowing with Messi jerseys. Not that they aren’t around all year, but demand has shot up like crazy. As one hawker said: “We are selling more Messi jerseys these days.” With just nine days left for Lionel Messi, one of the greatest footballers the world has ever seen, to return to Kolkata after 14 long years, the city’s football-mad pulse is thumping at its loudest.

Messi, Argentina’s World Cup hero and eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, is kicking off his four-city India tour from Kolkata on December 13. His last visit was in 2011, when he led Argentina in that iconic friendly against Venezuela at the Salt Lake Stadium. This time, again, he is returning to the Salt Lake Stadium and if everything works out, Bollywood’s Badshah Shah Rukh Khan might be there too.

Messi is expected to land around 1 am on December 13. That same day, he’ll attend an event with sponsors, followed by a grand musical tribute at Salt Lake Stadium. Mohun Bagan and Diamond Harbour will play a short exhibition match, and fans might even see Messi take a few shots himself. CM Mamata Banerjee, TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, and sporting legends like Sourav Ganguly and Leander Paes are likely to be present.

There’s also a plan to unveil a 70-foot Messi statue in Lake Town. However, it is yet to be decided whether Messi will go there himself or if the unveiling will happen digitally from the stadium. Meanwhile, Messi’s team has already done a full security recce at the venue.

And there’s more. Messi will conduct a masterclass with 20 young football enthusiasts, joined by his fellow superstars Luis Suarez and Rodrigo

De Paul.

The organisers, Satadru Dutta Initiative, are also planning to give Messi a full Bengali welcome with traditional dhoti-punjabi and a platter ending with mishti doi. The tour wraps up in Delhi on December 15, where Messi might meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.