Hyderabad: Argentinian football icon Lionel Messi, who visited the city on Saturday, December 13, for the Hyderabad leg of his G.O.A.T. Tour, stayed at the Taj Falaknuma Palace and was served iconic Hyderabadi delicacies such as mutton lukmi, irani chai, khubani ka meetha, among other things.
The food served to him was first tasted by a hygiene manager to ensure that it was fit for consumption. The menu also included other crowd favourites like the osmania biscuit, aloo tikki and ragda pattis chaat and aloo matar samosas.
The rest of the spread featured chana dal and curry leaves vada with mint chutney, cucumber and cream cheese sandwich, barbecue hot dog, chicken sandwich in tomato bread, chermoula-spiced panko fish with tartar sauce, and curry leaves cookies.
He was also served lighter palate items, like nutty cookies, scones with clotted cream and mixed berry jam, a wild berry cupcake with berry frosting, a chocolate milkshake, fresh watermelon juice, and assorted pastries, along with tea and coffee.
GOAT Tour in Hydeabad
Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Sunday thanked Argentine football icon Lionel Messi, and his Inter Miami teammates, Luis Suarez and Rodrigo de Paul, for enthralling sports lovers, especially youth, during the second leg of Messi’s GOAT India Tour 2025 here.
Messi’s programme in Hyderabad on Saturday evening ended on a positive note thanks to thorough preparations, sound planning, and discipline.
“I wholeheartedly thank G.O.A.T Lionel #Messi … football greats Luis Suarez and Rodrigo de Paul, for accepting our invitation and gracing our city of #Hyderabad and enthralling all our sports lovers, especially youth. We are deeply grateful to our leader Shri @RahulGandhi ji for joining us and making the evening a memory of a lifetime”, Reddy said in a post ‘X’.
The celebrated Argentine footballer mesmerised the Hyderabad crowd at a nearly-packed Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium as he showed off some of the skills that made him one of the greatest ever to play the sport.
Messi, Luis Suarez and Rodrigo de Paul took part in a GOAT Cup penalty shootout, with Reddy also turning up in football attire, and conducted football clinics with children before leaving the stadium.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi joined the visiting trio of players and Reddy at the felicitation towards the end of the event.
On Sunday morning, the football star left for his next location, Mumbai under “World Cup level” security measures marking the second day of his four-city ‘GOAT India Tour 2025’.
The World Cup-winning Argentine captain is scheduled to head to the Taj Colaba for a brief rest before proceeding to the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium), where he will attend a Padel GOAT Club event, followed by a celebrity football match later in the afternoon.
(With inputs from PTI.)
