Messi Magic: Hyderabad stadium decked up to witness legend's 'Penalty Shootout' on Dec 13
Hyderabad (PTI): The RGI Cricket Stadium here is decked up to witness football legend Lionel Messi's spectacular "Penalty Shootout," when his team will take on Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy-led squad in a friendly tie to be held on Saturday evening.
According to Parvathi Reddy, advisor to the GOAT Tour Hyderabad, there will be a friendly match between the two teams-Singareni RR9 and Aparna-Messi All Stars. These two teams will be playing a 15-20 minute friendly match and five minutes before the match, Revanth Reddy, a football enthusiast and Messi will join and dribble the ball together.
“There will be penalty shoots to decide who is the winning team. Each team gets a 3-3 penalty shootout so that they will decide who is the winning team. Messi will be doing it separately on his own. His magic kick will be done to showcase it to everybody,” Reddy told PTI.
She further said about 60 people paid Rs 10 lakh to get a picture with Messi and the amount thus collected will go to the Football Clinic aiming to provide opportunity to some young players to learn from big names in Football.
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A source closely associated with the event said about 27,000 tickets have been sold so far and the organiser expects full capacity- 39,000 by Saturday evening.
After the match there is a football clinic for about 25-30 minutes in which 20 children will be coached by Messi, Rodrigo (De Paul) and Luis Suarez, she said.
Messi will be landing in the city at 4 PM on Saturday and will leave from Mumbai on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile elaborate security arrangements are being made for the event at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium.
Rachakonda Police Commissioner Sudheer Babu said a 3,000 personnel security detail would be provided.
He said only valid ticket holders should reach the stadium, urging the spectators to use public transport or pool cars to avoid congestion at the venue.
Tickets will not be sold at the stadium as they were already sold online.
Messi would have 'Z' category security during his visit and an exclusive entry into the stadium.
Spectators would be allowed three hours before the play starts at 7 PM, the police official said.
Meanwhile, BJP workers, led by MLA A Maheshwar Reddy, held a protest outside the office of state-run mining company Singareni Collieries here alleging that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is misusing public money in the name of playing a football match with Messi.
The CM is wasting public money to the tune of Rs 100 crore out of his "madness for international publicity", he alleged.
The government should state how much money, and for what purpose it was being spent, he said.
He charged that funds of Singareni Collieries are being used to sponsor Revanth Reddy's team in the match with Messi.
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India, Brazil set bilateral trade target of over USD 20 billion in 5 years
New Delhi (PTI): India and Brazil on Saturday set a bilateral trade target of more than USD 20 billion in the next five years, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held wide-ranging talks with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, focussing in the areas of critical minerals and security.
Modi said the relations between India and Brazil have long benefitted from President Lula's visionary outlook and inspiring leadership.
He also noted that Brazil is India's largest trade partner in Latin America.
"We are committed to taking the India-Brazil trade beyond USD 20 billion in the next five years," the prime minister said in his media statement after the talks.
He asserted that when India and Brazil work together, the voice of the Global South becomes stronger.
Modi also said both countries agree that terrorism and its supporters are enemies of the entire humanity.
