The World Cup-winning Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi landed in the national capital of India, New Delhi, early this morning, making his visit to the country one of the most high-profile sporting visits of the city in recent times.
Messi and the Argentine team are staying in The Leela Palace in Chanakyapuri, and they have been allocated an entire floor.
The team has been housed in presidential suites of the hotel, whose room tariffs have been reported to be between 3.5 to 7 lakh per night. Tough guidelines have been given to the staff of the hotel not to reveal any information about the stay of Messi.
The airport-to-hotel drive is approximately 30 minutes, but the security within and around The Leela Palace has been significantly enhanced. The region has practically been turned into a high-security zone, and there is intensive police presence.
The corporate leaders and VIP guests will receive a special meet-and-greet event. It is reported that certain corporate participants have paid up to 1 crore of money in order to have a personal interaction with Messi.
How did the Internet react to Messi landing in Delhi?
Messi is a non smoker
He will visit Delhi today
He’ll smoke 25 cigarettes today
All thanks to AQI 900 today. pic.twitter.com/7TdqmvA8pS— Nehr_who? (@Nher_who) December 15, 2025
Messi in Delhi when he is struggling with a sore throat, itchy eyes, breathing difficulty, and general unease but the BJP’s AQI shows 35 pic.twitter.com/jiQo2QOYpt
— PrinCe (@Prince8bx) December 15, 2025
Crowd exhausted. Music unbearable. Announcer says ‘shortly’ every 10 seconds and is now being booed. #Messiindelhi #MessiInIndia https://t.co/XM7r1L94Bh pic.twitter.com/TsxktYu038
— Ravi Prakash Kumar (@RaviPksThakur) December 15, 2025
Messi’s GOAT Tour
In the short visit to Delhi, Messi will have an audience with the Chief Justice of India, a few Members of Parliament, prominent Indian sportsmen and Paralympics and medal winners in Olympics.
He will also pay a visit to the house of MP Praful Patel where some of the leading dignitaries, such as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Surya Kant, are scheduled to be present. Messi will also meet an Indian cricketer, Virat Kohli and then an encounter with the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
The Argentine captain will visit the Arun Jaitley stadium, where a football clinic will be held and an interaction with some few Indian cricketers organized.
Afterwards, Messi would go to Purana Qila where there would be a special Adidas-sponsored event. There, he will be introduced to Indian sporting champions such as Rohit Sharma, Paralympics javelin gold medallist Sumit Antil, boxing world champion Nikhat Zareen as well as Olympic high jump medallist Nishad Kumar.
Messi will report to the airport at around 6:15 pm and fly out of India at around 8:00 pm. He has made visits to Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai and then he will visit Delhi before going back to Argentina.
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