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New Delhi: Lionel Messi is grateful for feeling loved and wanted in India during his short promotional GOUT tour and hoped the country would improve in football.
Currently 142nd in FIFA rankings, India have failed to qualify for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup and the country’s domestic football action is halted due to no commercial takers on bids for top-flight Indian Super and second tier I-League.
But it didn’t stop from corporates and sponsors to pitch in hundreds of crores to host Messi in four cities across three days.
The Argentine left for his base in Miami on Wednesday after extending his stay by a day to visit the Vantara wildlife rescue, rehabilitation and conservation centre in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
Thousands of fans jostled to catch a glimpse of the 2022 World Cup leading to chaos and confusion in Kolkata, his first pit stop before seamless appearances in Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi.
The 38-year-old posted a video on Instagram on his second visit to India after playing in an international friendly in Kolkata in 2011.
"What amazing visits to Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. Thank you for the warm reception, generous hospitality, and all the feelings of love with which you surrounded me throughout my tour,” he wrote underneath the video.
"I hope that football has a bright future in India.”
Accompanied by his Inter Miami team-mates and close friends Luis Suarez and Rodrigo de Paul, Messi didn’t play competitive football during the trip and appearances were limited to waving in stadiums for ticketed events where politcians, Bollywood stars, footballers jostled for his attention.
"...we carry all this love with us, and we will definitely return, hopefully one day to play a match or on another occasion, but we will definitely return to visit India," he said.
