Lionel Messi’s arrival in Paris was like a sovereign occasion graced by royalty as the worshipful masses were finally able to greet him upon his long-awaited arrival at the airport, the American hospital in Paris and at his new Parc des Princes home.
It was to all intents and purposes a majestic state occasion, no less. The dozens of police vans, the cordoned off roads and the hundreds of cameras feeding every movement to television sets, computer screens and mobile phones around the world. And yes, the thousands that thronged the streets outside the Parc des Princes waiting to pay obeisance and homage to the new King of the Parisien capital.
It was all majesty on parade.
This was the sort of ceremony reserved only for royalty as – to the adoring masses – every second of this was a coronation of their new sovereign.
Lionel Andreas Messi only stepped onto the street for barely 60 seconds but that was sufficient time for the thousands of fans-in-waiting to crown him the new king of Paris. Sovereign Messi walked a few meters out of his blacked-out Mercedes van to wave to his new supporters, signaling the beginning of a new glorious era for French football.
‘Messi est Paris!’ they chanted, as the Rue du Commandant Guilabud went up in an enchanting puff of multi-colored smoke.
Flares were lit as locals climbed upon bins, fences or whatever they could find for a better vantage point to catch a glimpse of their new king. The police had even told children to move away from the front to avoid the inevitable crush that had already been building up dangerously.
‘This is the biggest signing we’ve ever made,’ enthused one supporter, desperately squeezed in to catch a glimpse of the proceedings.
‘Messi is the best in the world. With Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, we’re going to win the Champions League. Paris is going to be the center of the football universe.’
On this particular Tuesday afternoon, that is exactly what it felt like outside the Parc de Princes. A suburb that would typically be enjoying its own idyllic quietude on a normal Tuesday afternoon was now bustling with hordes of international media crews from all over the globe – from Iran to South Africa to Japan.
Opposite the stadium, the club shop was suddenly enjoying its busiest day of the summer. In the world’s giddiest fashion capital, that blue polyester top suddenly became the hottest item in town. Although you will have to wait until Wednesday to have Messi’s name printed indelibly on the back.
‘We’re not allowed to sell them yet,’ whispered the shop assistants at lunchtime, as word got out about the new arrival.
‘Back together,’ wrote Neymar on Instagram, early in the afternoon, unable to keep the secret.
The club had earlier posted a titillating teaser on their Twitter account, showing six Ballon d’Ors – the amount Messi has won – in front of the Eiffel Tower and a noticeable space in the dressing room between Neymar and Mbappe. As the news spread, the multitude of fans gathered, waiting impatiently as his impending arrival somehow got delayed since news had begun spreading on Sunday.
Many had actually arrived in the morning and spent hours chanting his name before Messi finally turned up around 7pm local time. The crowd had grown from 10s to 100s to 1000s as the rumors gradually became reality.
There were Argentina shirts, Barcelona shirts and even some from Rosario’s Newell’s Old Boys. One young couple from Holland even actually spent the first day of their honeymoon waiting around outside the stadium.
‘Once we saw the news on Twitter, we couldn’t miss it,’ they said.
In the early afternoon on Tuesday, Messi was finally seen at Barcelona’s El Prat airport alongside his wife Antonella and their three children, Thiago, eight, Mateo, five, and Ciro, three.
Antonella, wearing a Versace top, later posted a selfie alongside her husband as they sat in their private jet waiting to be transported to their new home.
Messi was wearing an Adidas t-shirt but the next time he was officially seen, after landing at Bourget airport in Paris at around 3pm, he had changed into a different top with ‘Ici c’est Paris’ emblazoned across the front.
He was immediately escorted to a local hospital for his medical, before finally arriving at the stadium to a frenzy of screams, sirens and whistles. And then, in a flash, the timeless Peter Pan of football was gone, whisked magically away to his new home.
The coronation had finally begun.
And, somehow, strangely – all this is beginning to make sense …
Credit: Football Tribe Malaysia
