Hyderabad: Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, is all set to visit Hyderabad on Saturday, December 13. He will attend the G.O.A.T. India Tour event featuring football legend Lionel Messi at the Uppal cricket stadium.
According to the schedule, Rahul will arrive at Hyderabad airport from Delhi between 2:15 pm and 4:15 pm by a special flight.
He will reach the Falaknuma Palace Hotel and then attend the high-profile friendly football match between Messi and Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy by 7:55 pm.
The Congress leader will return to the airport to board an Air India flight back to Delhi. Security arrangements have been tightened ahead of the visit, officials said.
Hyderabad stadium decked up
The Uppal cricket stadium is decked up to witness Messi’s spectacular “Penalty Shootout,” when his team will take on CM Revanth-led squad in a friendly tie.
According to Parvathi Reddy, advisor to the G.O.A.T. Tour Hyderabad, there will be a friendly match between the two teams-Singareni RR9 and Aparna-Messi All Stars. These two teams will play a 15-20 minute friendly match. 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 said.
She 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 an opportunity to some young players to learn from big names in Football.
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.
3000 police personnel guard Uppal stadium
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 have already been 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.
(With PTI inputs)
