A 70-FOOT IRON STATUE of football great Lionel Messi, claimed to be the largest ever created of the Argentine icon, has been completed by the Sree Bhumi Sporting Club in Lake Town, South Dum Dum, Kolkata. The sculpture depicts Messi lifting the FIFA World Cup trophy, with the final finishing work now underway.
West Bengal Minister and Sree Bhumi Sporting Club president Sujit Bose said the project was executed in just forty days. “This is a very big statue, 70 foot in height. There is no other statue of Messi this big in the world. Messi is coming to Kolkata, and there are a lot of fans of Messi,” he told ANI.
Recalling Kolkata’s history of hosting global football greats, Bose added, “Before him, there were Maradona, Martinez, Ronaldinho of Brazil, they all have come here. In Sreebhumi, everybody came.”
He further added, “We built this statue in 40 days. Monty Paul made it ready. People were saying that we have a statue of Maradona, so why won’t there be one of Messi.”
Messi is scheduled to appear at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on 13 December for his ‘G.O.A.T India Tour’. Organisers confirmed that Messi will inaugurate the statue virtually on the same day, as he will be unable to attend in person due to security and law-and-order considerations.
