It was supposed to be a case of ‘he came, he saw, he conquered’ millions of fans with his dabbling genius. It was expected that Indian fans of the beautiful game would get to relish the perfect icing on the 2025 cake. Unfortunately, the script went awry given that the captain of the reigning World Cup winners did not get to execute his legendary playing skills, largely due to the unabashed behaviour of local politicians, including Chief Ministers, who tried to conquer glory by cashing in on the popularity of the iconic visitors, to boost their own images.

In doing so, our ‘great’ event managers and organisers, and the even ‘greater’ politicians showed disrespect to the globally revered footballers by not allowing them to steal the limelight and using them as mere poster boys before the cameras and freezing them for posterity. One should salute the gracefulness of Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccitini and the equally gifted Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul that in this melee they controlled their emotions and did not object to the bulldozing ‘tactics’ of the VVIPs. In this context, a word of praise must go to Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who undid the damage and utter chaos caused at Kolkata in the preceding leg, by asking the VVIPs to make way so that the fans could get to enjoy for what they thronged Hyderabad’s RGICS-watching the masterly acts of Messi, the eight-time winner of Ballon d’Ors and 46 team trophies, including the crowning glory in the form of the 2022 World Cup, in flesh and blood.

One wonders why a cricket stadium was used when Hyderabad boasts of a wonderful football ground. In sports parlance, the eagerly awaited Lionel Messi’s GOAT India Tour 2025 was a damp squib. It was a case of agony and ecstasy-from the heartburn in the game’s Mecca to the somewhat ‘real’ football in the subsequent legs, though in terms of quality none of the four showcased an element of competitiveness, despite them being exhibition matches. In hindsight, one must accept the tour fixture was shoddy and perhaps meant to please its promoters, sponsors and politicians. Lest one forgets, the fans paid hefty amounts to witness some amazing football.

A genuine football fan would have preferred different venues to host the superstar. For instance, Hyderabad’s football lives in the past. Delhi was never a great football playing hub. An ideal tour should have included any city in Kerala and Goa, which are second to Kolkata, in terms of players, popularity, clubs and sweepstakes. The schedule should have been so organised that the tour’s grand finale ought to have been Salt Lake Stadium, where the delirious crowds would have reminded Messi and his fellow-players of the crowds that swam grounds nearer home. Mumbai, Goa, Kerala and Kolkata in that order should have been the venues to make a spectacular success of the tour.

Perhaps, as the private event’s organisers (who minted millions) were from Kolkata, they did not wish that the local giants from Kerala and Goa should take credit in any form, a notorious ego-ridden trait that dictates Indian football. In lighter vein, one would not be surprised if, heart in heart, Messi and his teammates must have felt more at home during their last stopover at Anant Ambani’s Vantara wildlife rescue, rehabilitation and conservation centre amid wildlife, than at any of the four venues they had to dribble the ball.