Mumbai Gets Its Messi Fill: Wankhede Stadium Hosts Lionel Messi's GOAT India Tour

For three hours on Sunday, the iconic cricket stadium here turned into a football coliseum. As is always the case on match days, Wankhede Stadium was blue, but today the shade was lighter, the one associated with Argentine footballers. Thousands in the stands wore No.10 — Sachin Tendulkar’s number in these parts. But tonight it was for another No.10 — the global sporting superstar Lionel Messi. The first leg of Messi’s GOAT India Tour haddescended into chaos in Kolkata on Saturday, with fansfeeling cheatedas most of them didn’t get to see the one-of-a-kind footballer. On Sunday,Mumbaigot its Messi fill. The World Cup winner stepped onto the red carpet laid out for him at 5:51 pm, and his grand entry got the roof down. Beside him were his club teammates Rodrigo de Paul and Luis Suárez. But all eyes were onMessi as cameras kept flashingwhere the star ventured. Shy as ever, the 5’7” icon smiled and waved. He would also enthusiastically participate in a kick-around with a group of boys and girls, who were part of the Project Mahadeva, an initiative by Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis. The grassroots programme targets under-13 children and enrols them for a five-year scholarship programme that provides coaching and academic support. For the young footballers from the interiors of the state like Yavatmal, Gadchiroli, Nandurbar, Dharashiv and Chandrapur, it was a day they would remember for the rest of their lives.