Lionel Messi’s Tour Concludes With a Bang in Delhi; Jay Shah Invites Him for India’s Opening Match in T20 World Cup

The GOAT India tour by Lionel Messi eventually ended in India on Monday, December 15, when the Argentine superstar paid a visit to the capital of the country, Delhi. The world cup winning star of FIFA entered the Arun Jaitley stadium at around 4:20 pm IST and after making a couple of laps around the stadium, the 38-year-old met the International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Jay Shah and Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta.

Delhi was the culmination of Messi Indian tour, as the striker previously met the fans in Kolcaba, Hyderab and Mumbai. Jay Shah honored Messi at an influential stadium, the Arun Jaitley Stadium, by giving him the Team India jersey and even signed bat.

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Not only the bat and jersey, but the invitation ticket to the opening game at the ICC Men T20 World Cup 2026 which will be hosted jointly by India and Sri Lanka was also given to Messi by the chairman of ICC. It is also noteworthy that the India team that will be headed by Suryakumar Yadav will start their world cup on February 7 against the United States in the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

When Messi was offered the first ticket to the 20-team tournament, which is to be held in the nearest future, the whole audience went crazy, and the applause was quite deafening.

The pleasantry was briefly interrupted after which Messi took a photo with Jay Shah and Rekha Gupta. Team India Jersey was also given to even Luis Suarez and Rodrigo de Paul. Messi carried the legendary No.10 jersey whereas Suarez and de Paul were given Nos. 9 and 7 jerseys respectively.

What did Messi tell the Delhi Crowd?

Messi also made a short speech in Delhi where he spoke in his native language, which was Spanish. He generated the gratitude of the whole Indian crowd who had come in great numbers.

"I want to thank everyone for the love and affection during these days in India - it was a truly beautiful experience for us," said Messi.

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“We carry all this love with us - we will definitely return - hopefully one day to play a match or on another occasion, but we will definitely return to visit India. Thank you very much,” he added.

Previously, Messi had arrived late in Delhi after his flight was delayed because of the heavy mists in the national capital in Mumbai.

Talking about Messi, the GOAT India tour of the Argentine superstar started on Saturday and first moved to Kolkata. These proceedings however started on a bad note with Messi walking out of the Salt Lake stadium after only 15 minutes due to the mismanagement and this gave rise to some ugly scenes when the fans threw water bottles and smashed chairs within the facility.

This was however the sole flaw since everything proceeded as scheduled in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.

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