Lionel Messi and his Argentina team mates will travel to India later this year to take on Venezuela in a friendly designed to boost football on the subcontinent, a report said Tuesday. The FIFA-sanctioned game is scheduled for September 2 in the eastern city of Kolkata and the Argentinean team will then travel to Bangladesh where they will take on Nigeria, the Press Trust of India (PTI) newsagency reported.
The Argentina squad will arrive in Kolkata on August 30 and will take part in a number of events, including a charity programme and a football clinic for children during a four-day stay. It was unclear if world player of the year Messi, whose club side Barcelona begin their La Liga title defence the day before, would fly out with his Argentina team mates or join the tour later.