Credit: Twitter
It was announced in May this year that Argentina’s superstar goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez will be visiting Kolkata for a couple of days in July. Martinez will inaugurate the "Pele-Maradona-Sobers Gate" at Mohun Bagan on July 4. The Golden Glove-winning goalkeeper in the FIFA World Cup 2022 will be in the city on a private visit and take part in a number of other events.
The Aston Villa goalkeeper will also be watching the Friendship Cup match between Mohun Bagan All Stars and Kolkata Police Commissioner All-Stars. The Mohun Bagan ground has a rich heritage in the past, where the great Pele graced the pitch playing for New York Cosmos in 1977. Another Argentina legend, Diego Maradona has also visited the club in 2008.
Amit Das, Denson Devdas, Sanjay Maji, Alok Das, Gautam Ghosh, Soumitra Chakraborty, Devjit Ghosh, and Habibur Rahman are among the players in Mohun Bagan's all-star lineup, which was unveiled on Monday. The coaches are Manas Bhattacharya and Satyajit Chatterjee.
The 30-year-old keeper landed in Kolkata after a brief visit to Bangladesh and received a grand welcome in the ‘City of Joy’. Hundreds of fans were seen crowding at the airport to catch a glimpse of ‘the man who helped Messi win the world cup’. He was bombarded by fans as well as reporters when he said, "India is a beautiful country"
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"Martinez will be felicitated and will also look around the infrastructure of our club and meet some selected members," Mohun Bagan stated in a release after their executive committee meeting. For the smooth running of the project, Mohun Bagan has constituted a five-member committee, including General Secretary Debashish Dutta.
The Argentine will pay homage to Argentine superstar Diego Maradona at a Maradona Memorial ceremony in Kolkata's Lake Town the day after the game. He will also attend the finals of the All Bengal Tiebreaker Contest "Pache Pach" at Sribhumi Sporting Ground. On the same day, he would hold a master class session at Santosh Mitra Square Ground, Lebutala, while also spending time with needy children.
Martinez is also expected to meet the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Smt Mamta Banerjee, followed by a meeting with another sporting legend, Sourav Ganguly.
In the afternoon, Martinez will visit the Mohun Bagan tent. Mohun Bagan will honour Martinez as the best goalie of the World Cup and present him with the "Mohunbagan Ratna" memento before he departs on Wednesday. Kolkata football fans are already excited for Martinez. On Saturday, all tickets were sold out in the first two hours. Members tried desperately to get tickets even on Sunday but were unsuccessful.
