“A tribute to his height”: in Calcutta, Indian fans built a 21-meter statue to the glory of Lionel Messi, who begins a three-day tour of the country on Saturday.
The “Pulga” (the flea), who has just won the MLS championship with Miami, will however not be able to attend the inauguration of the statue in person, for security reasons.
The monumental work, which features the Argentine soccer star holding up the World Cup trophy, overlooks the chaotic traffic of the country’s eastern metropolis, not known for being a soccer hotbed.
“It’s the biggest statue I have made,” Monti Paul, who led the design of the iron sculpture, told AFP. It’s a source of pride.”
History does not say, however, whether the work is more successful than the bust made in homage to his best enemy Cristiano Ronaldo installed in Madeira airport.
Messi to meet Bollywood star
In India, whose selection rubs shoulders with the bottom of the Fifa ranking (142nd, behind Latvia and Liberia), the fervor aroused by the eight-time winner of the Ballon d’Or rivals that of local cricket stars.
Messi begins a three-day tour in Calcutta on Saturday which will also take him to Hyderabad, Bombay and the capital New Delhi. He is scheduled to meet Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Worth a look
