Messi Mania Sweeps London
London was swept with Messi mania yesterday as the world's best footballer was brought to London by adidas for a series of speed challenges, and the soccerbible had front row seats for all the action!
Fresh from scoring two goals in the Champions League, fans could hardly believe it when Messi arrived by adidas helicopter, and the Barcelona star certainly needed to be at his fastest as the days events unfolded. The events were arranged by Messi s sponsors adidas to tie in with their advertising campaign fast meets fast , and in scenes reminiscent of The Beatles, thousands and thousands of fans descended upon the three separate locations for a glimpse of their hero.
Our SoccerBible team arrived at the first location in Hackney Marshes as two local sides contested an evenly matched game, eagerly anticipating the arrival of the super-sub. The idea was to sub Messi on as the world's fastest sub and change the game, and our men were pitchside in anticipation of seeing the speedy trickster up close.
Lionel Messi touched down in Hackney Marshes, and as our snapshot of 'ten seconds in the life of Messi' above shows, it was an absolutely incredible reception he received. Due to this immense popularity the game was looking less likely, and so Messi was moved onto the second challenge, where he was to man an adidas boot amnesty. En route, the football genius and adizero wearer granted an exclusive audience with the SoccerBible...stay tuned for that one!
Arriving as part of the entourage, SoccerBible got up close with the adidas F50 star at Brick Lane market where he was handing out boots to fifty fans. Fans queued from 10am with the chosen lucky fifty getting to swap their old boots for brand new and exclusive gold adidas F50 adizeros.
Over a thousand fans flocked to get a glimpse of the Argentinean star as you can see from our exclusive pictures! Yet Messi was still keen to be involved in the giveaway of his brand new gold adidas F50 adizero football boots, and as you can see the amnesty produced some interesting boots!
Messi was in good form, and this was clearly one challenge that appealed to the UNICEF ambassador's heart, happy to sign boots and pose for pictures.
Messi was then moved onto the nearby third challenge at Tower Hamlets, as fans joined the masses already waiting outside the 5-a-side venue where he was due to play with local kids.
SoccerBible again joined the entourage, and arrived at the tiny tarmac pitch to be greeted by thousands of fans crammed to watch the kickabout, with Messi's presence causing a gridlock on the streets!
With around 3,000 fans flooding the venue Messi was unable to get onto the pitch for his final challenge and started his journey back to Barcelona.
A true footballing great had graced the streets of London, and thanks to our friends at adidas, SoccerBible had front row tickets to report the news to our fans. Stay tuned to the SoccerBible for more exclusives from Messi's visit, and the latest campaign info from adidas...
