Countdown to Messi’s GOAT Tour of India picks up with Miami’s MLS Cup

The GOAT Tour of India, as football icon Lionel Messi’s whistle-stop tour of India next weekend is known as, received a major boost with the news of the Argentine starring in Inter Miami’s maiden MLS Cup win on Saturday. Messi’s Pink Army, co-owned by David Beckham, beat Vancouver 3-1 at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale for the elusive silverware.

 The gaze of the football world shifted to the US last week for the draw of FIFA World Cup 2026 which saw Messi’s world champions beginning their title-defence against Algeria. The draw also opened up the possibilities of a potential quarter final clash between Argentina and Portugal (read: Messi vs Ronaldo).  

 The MLS Cup final followed and Messi was quoted as saying: “A beautiful, emotional moment for us, for the people of Miami, to be able to achieve the MLS objective.  It’s a very new club, so to speak. When we played before, we were lucky enough to win a title, but this was the real objective, to win MLS and be at the top of the American league, and luckily we achieved it.”

Messi, meanwhile, is no stranger to the overwhelming fanaticism that his name whips up in the city of Kolkata when he turned out with the Argentina captain’s armband here in a friendly against Venezuela back in 2011. The megastar’s security team had done a recce of all four pit stops of him in India – Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi – and his entourage will be landing in Kolkata on the midnight of 12 December (Friday).

 ‘’The redemption of online vouchers for Saturday’s tickets have started from two counters at the Salt Lake Stadium and will continue till Friday (12 December),’’ Satadru Dutta, a sports promoter who had been the brain behind the visit, told the local media Dutta had earlier hosted visits of Brazilian Ronaldinho and Emiliano Martinez, the World Cup winning goalkeeper of Messi’s team in Qatar 2022.

Kickstarting his tour of India with an appearance at Kolkata on 13 December at the Salt Lake Stadium at 10.30 am, he will travel to Hyderabad on the same day where his appearance is scheduled for 7 pm. The next day, the legend will make his way to Mumbai and will be at the Wankhede Stadium at 5.30 pm. The last day of his tour would be on 15 December in Delhi at the Arun Jaitley Stadium at 1 pm.

 In the national capital, Messi will participate in a 7v7 game and conduct a masterclass with a specially chosen group of talented youngsters. There would also be a penalty shootout to further display the inimitable skills of the alltime great.