Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\nA \u201cHola Messi\u201d fan zone has also been set up in Kolkata where on display is a life-sized replica of Messi sat on a throne.<\/p>\n
The hall also recreates his Miami home, complete with mannequins of his family members.<\/p>\n
Football fan Samir Nandy said it would be \u201ca dream come true\u201d to catch a glimpse of his idol.<\/p>\n
\u201cLegends are not made by success alone. It is his resilience that made me believe in him,\u201d Nandy, 64, said in Kolkata.<\/p>\n
A veiled statue of Inter Miami’s Argentine forward #10 Lionel Messi is seen on the eve of his visit, in Kolkata.Source: AFP<\/p>\n
\u201cThe statue is a fitting tribute to him.\u201d Monti Paul, the statue\u2019s main sculptor, told AFP the structure was built inside 40 days. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of pride to build the sculpture of Messi. It\u2019s the tallest statue I have made,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The eight-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner will also meet Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly during his whirlwind trip to Kolkata. <\/p>\n
Ahead of his arrival, Messi said it was an honour to visit India and interact with the fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia is a very special country and I have good memories from my time there 14 years ago — the fans were fantastic,\u201d Messi said in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cIndia is a passionate football nation and I look forward to meeting a new generation of fans while sharing the love I have for this beautiful game.\u201d <\/p>\n
Jesus bags again for Forest | 00:54<\/p>\n
After Kolkata, where Messi will play a short friendly match, he will head to Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi. <\/p>\n
In Hyderabad he will attend a concert in his honour and play another friendly. He is reportedly scheduled to meet Modi in the capital. <\/p>\n
Messi won his second consecutive Major League Soccer Most Valuable Player award this week after propelling Inter Miami to the MLS title and leading the league in goals. <\/p>\n
The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain attacker will spearhead Argentina\u2019s defence of the World Cup in June-July in North America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi will unveil a 21-metre (70-foot) statue of himself in India on Saturday as he embarks on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-342919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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