NEW DELHI: Lionel Messi’s programme in Hyderabad on Saturday provided a transparent distinction to the dysfunction seen earlier in Kolkata, because the second leg of the GOAT India Tour handed with out disruption and ended on a clean be aware.After a troubled begin within the Metropolis of Pleasure, Hyderabad provided a setting the place the occasion was allowed to breathe. The construction held, the gang stayed in place, and the programme ran as meant, drawing a transparent line between what had gone flawed earlier within the day and what was put proper later.
Messi arrived in Hyderabad at round 5.40 pm, following a tough opening leg of his three-day, four-city GOAT India Tour 2025. Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy obtained him on the Taj Falaknuma Palace earlier than the Argentine headed to the Rajiv Gandhi Worldwide Stadium.The stands have been near full when Messi walked out, dressed merely in a inexperienced crew-neck T-shirt, black trousers and sports activities footwear. This time, there was no rush, no scramble. He stayed for about an hour, comfy, transferring by way of the programme with out the pressure that had minimize quick his time in Kolkata.“I’m very joyful to be in Hyderabad within the midst of all of the love and affection proven by you all,” Messi stated by way of a translator, acknowledging the gang.Messi, together with Inter Miami teammates Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul, took half within the GOAT Cup penalty shootout, with Revanth Reddy additionally becoming a member of them on the sphere in soccer apparel. The gamers later carried out soccer clinics for kids earlier than the formalities drew to an in depth.Senior Congress chief Rahul Gandhi joined the group in direction of the top of the occasion throughout the felicitation ceremony, with pictures taken in entrance of the sponsor hoardings lining the bottom.Messi offered the GOAT Cup to Singareni RR 9, winners of the seven-a-side exhibition match and a workforce representing the chief minister. Reddy offered a memento to Messi, whereas Gandhi handed one to Suarez.Earlier than stepping onto the sphere, Messi hung out contained in the stadium, pictures on the partitions and talking with officers. He waved to followers from behind a glass barrier, then later provided glimpses of the contact and management which have outlined his profession, juggling and passing the ball with Suarez, De Paul and Reddy. A sluggish stroll across the stadium adopted, with Messi acknowledging the gang alongside the best way.Earlier within the day, scenes in Kolkata have been very completely different. Round 50,000 spectators, lots of whom paid between Rs 4,000 and Rs 12,000 — and in some circumstances as much as Rs 20,000 within the black market — have been left offended as politicians, VVIPs and safety personnel surrounded Messi, limiting visibility for followers.The state of affairs escalated when spectators threw bottles, that are banned inside stadiums. Meals packets have been additionally discovered contained in the venue. Chairs have been pulled out and thrown, and fibreglass seats have been broken throughout the sphere and the artificial observe.Messi will journey to Mumbai on Sunday for the third leg of the GOAT India Tour 2025. He’ll conclude his go to on Monday in New Delhi, the place he’s scheduled to fulfill Prime Minister Narendra Modi.