‘Lungs ka kya?’: Lionel Messi’s Delhi arrival amid severe AQI triggers viral meme fest

Delhi woke up to a thick blanket of winter fog on December 15, just as the capital was gearing up to welcome football icon Lionel Messi for the final leg of his GOAT India Tour. The cold, grey and smog-laden morning quickly became fodder for social media, with fans flooding timelines with memes, jokes and hazy visuals of the city.

One viral post read, “Messi, aapka Delhi mein swagat hai. I heard your left leg is insured for $900 million. Lungs ka kya?” Another quipped, “Messi has 896 career goals. Tomorrow, Delhi’s AQI will beat that.” Playing on the near-zero visibility, a user shared a blank image captioned, “Here is a photo of Messi and Virat Kohli in Delhi… two GOATs.” Others joked that the Argentine star, a non-smoker, would end up “smoking 25 cigarettes” in a day due to Delhi’s air quality.

The dense fog disrupted daily life across the capital, reducing visibility in several areas and triggering long traffic snarls. The India Meteorological Department issued an orange alert, while minimum temperatures dipped to 8.2 degrees Celsius.

Messi is in India as part of a four-city tour and arrived in Delhi along with teammates Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul. His chartered flight from Mumbai was delayed due to foggy conditions but eventually landed in the capital, after which he checked into the Taj Mahal Palace.

To manage congestion, the Delhi Traffic Police issued route advisories, diverting traffic on Bahadurshah Zafar Marg and JLN Marg. Heavy vehicles were restricted from Daryaganj to Bahadurshah Zafar Marg and from Guru Nanak Chowk to Asaf Ali Road.

Adding to the buzz was speculation around a possible meeting between Messi and cricket superstar Virat Kohli. Kohli had recently visited Mumbai with Anushka Sharma, but no official confirmation of a meet-up in Delhi has been announced so far.