Lionel Messi has been suspended for one game after sitting out the MLS All-Star Game without prior approval, the league said on Friday.
Messi, accompanied by his Inter Miami teammates Luis Surez and Rodrigo De Paul, was accorded a traditional welcome, featuring folk music, floral greetings and a ceremonial 'Aarti'.
Football icon Lionel Messi arrived in Mumbai around noon on Sunday under "World Cup level" security measures, marking the second day of his four-city 'GOAT India Tour 2025'.
Hyderabad delivered the perfect footballing spectacle on Saturday night as Lionel Messi lit up the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, offering fans a sharply contrasting experience to the chaos that had unfolded earlier in Kolkata.
'I'm really eager because it's a World Cup. We're coming off winning the last one, and being able to defend it on the field again is spectacular because it's always a dream to play with the national team.'
Messi's Inter Miami lead Leagues Cup quarter-final lineup as average match viewership reached 1.43 million, up 62% from 2024.
PSG beat Seattle to reach knockout stage at Club World Cup
From Royal Challengers Bengaluru's historic first IPL title to star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra finally breaking the iconic 90-meter mark to India women winning their first cricket World Cup, this was the year of long-awaited victories and record-breaking feats.
Messi mania engulfs Miami over the Argentine soccer superstar's arrival.
'They don't allow me to be on the field anymore.'
'I just tried to move him out of the way, because for him to get a red card at the end of the game would have been ridiculous.'
Messi's last visit with the Argentina team to India was back in 2011, when they faced Venezuela in a friendly match at Kolkata's iconic Salt Lake Stadium.
Tendulkar also hoped that 'India also reaches the height that we all aspire to (in football).'
Video footage showed Messi approach the coach and grab the back of his neck, causing him to pull away from the eight-times Ballon d'Or winner after the 2-2 draw in Miami.
For long stretches, the atmosphere felt less Mumbai and more Camp Nou. Chants of 'Barca... Barca' and 'Suarez... Suarez' echoed through the stands as Messi interacted with youngsters, celebrities and former India football captain Sunil Chhetri.
Lionel Messi's programme in Hyderabad was in stark contrast to the mayhem in Kolkata as the second leg of the GOAT India Tour ended on a positive note thanks to thorough preparations, sound planning, and discipline.
What should have been a landmark footballing moment in Kolkata turned into a cautionary tale on Saturday morning, as Lionel Messi's brief appearance at the Salt Lake Stadium was cut short amid crowd mismanagement
A training camp for the U.S. women's national team has been moved from Los Angeles to Miami due to the wildfires that have devastated Southern California, U.S. Soccer said on Friday.
Mexican referee Marco Antonio Ortiz Nava found out the hard way that there are consequences for seeking an autograph from eight-time Ballon d'Or winner and World Cup winner Lionel Messi -- he was hit with a CONCACAF disciplinary sanction.
Football icon Lionel Messi was in the stands at the Miami Open, watching Novak Djokovic cruise past Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals on Saturday.
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great's net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
Ichhapur tea-seller Shib Shankar Patra is one of two diehard fans handpicked for a special meet-and-greet with Argentine superstar Lionel Messi.
From their glory days at Barcelona to reuniting at Inter Miami, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez have now brought their enduring partnership into a new chapter, co-founding Deportivo LSM, a club set to compete in professional Uruguayan football.
Lionel Messi's much-hyped visit to the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Saturday lasted 22 minutes, just enough to underline everything that is wrong in Indian football and the state administration's mismanagement.
Novak Djokovic is one win away from a 100th career singles title after breezing past Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-3 on Friday to reach the Miami Open final, where he will face either third seed Taylor Fritz or rising Czech Jakub Mensik.
Lionel Messi was not included in Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni's squad for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Brazil
In his first full MLS season after joining Miami in July 2023, Lionel Messi had 20 goals and 16 assists in 19 matches while his club set a league record with a 74-point campaign before a stunning first-round elimination from the play-offs.
Lando Norris lucked in to win a rain-hit and crash-strewn Miami Grand Prix sprint race in a McLaren one-two on Saturday.
For 15 years, Messi and Ronaldo battled like no others. Now, Messi shares what made their rivalry so special.
Chinese sporting authorities have cancelled next month's friendly international between Argentina and Nigeria amid a growing backlash against Lionel Messi's failure to play in an Inter Miami match in Hong Kong last week.
Lionel Messi has more than proven his worth for the league and his team at a vitally important time for the sport in North America, where the FIFA World Cup will be staged in 2026.
After leaving fans guessing about whether or not he would take to the pitch, Lionel Messi came on in the 60th minute in Inter Miami's friendly match against J-League side Vissel Kobe in Tokyo on Wednesday.
In a recent interview with El Pais, Suarez was asked whether he and Messi had talked about retirement.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1936, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church died on Monday aged 88.
Messi played a key role in guiding Argentina to their first World Cup title in 36 years when they beat defending champions France in the final in December last year.
Some mainland fans travelled 12 hours from Xinjiang to Hong Kong to see Messi, the Global Times wrote, with the disappointment of the government and fans "entirely understandable. The impact of this incident has far exceeded the realm of sports."
The New York City mayor-elect's mother has made some incredible movies.
Zero women cracked the list of the world's 100 highest-paid athletes released on Wednesday by Sportico.
Argentina's friendly against Ivory Coast, scheduled to be held in Beijing in March, has been cancelled, the Chinese city's football association said on Saturday, following a backlash against Lionel Messi's failure to play in a match in Hong Kong.
Messi hopes to play in Tokyo friendly after Hong Kong letdown
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances