Austin Town prepares 50-feet long banner of Lionel Messi

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: With soccer mania sweeping across the globe, Bengaluru is no way immune to it. The residents of Austin Town have posted a video on Twitter in which many people are seen holding a 50-feet long banner of the Argentine football legend Lionel Messi.

Messi will be playing in the FIFA World Cup being held in Qatar, and he has confirmed this will be his last appearance at the prestigious tournament held once in four years. This will be his fifth appearance at the world cup, but Argentina has never won the title during his playing career.

This Paris St-Germain striker is a prolific goal scorer and has won a record seven Ballon d'Or awards and six European Golden Shoes during his career. Previously he was with Barcelona. In a tweet posted by SURIYA_YASH_FAN PAGE, @ Suriya_Yash_Fc said, “India’s Largest banner placed in Austin Town Bangalore for @TeamMessi.

The video caption read, “This is the first time in India, a 50 feet Lionel Messi’s Banner in Austin Town.” Argentina has qualified for the world cup for the 13th time in a row, and figures third in the list, with Brazil on top (22 times in a row) and Germany (18 times).

The country has won the world cup twice - in 1978 and later in 1986, under the leadership of another charismatic footballer late Diego Maradona. In its current quest for the world cup, Argentina will be clashing with Saudi Arabia in its inaugural match, which will be live-streamed at 3.30 pm Tuesday.

The win probability of the two teams lay at Argentina with 83 per cent and Saudi Arabia with 5 per cent. The live stream will be available on Jio Cinema, Sports18 and MTV. Various pubs and restaurants in the city have made arrangements to live stream the event on giant screens.