While Barcelona are gearing up to fly to Los Angeles and start their pre-season tour of the United States, Leo Messi is in Gabon. The star forward laid the foundation stone for the new stadium in Port-Gentil, one of the proposed venues for the African Nations Cup that the country will host in 2017. Messi received a spectacular welcome and was honoured upon his arrival.
Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba took on an impromptu role as Messi’s driver and revealed that the Barcelona forward had promised him he would visit Africa: “When I was in Barcelona a few years ago I met him and he told me that he’d come to visit me in Libreville.”
He added: “It’s a promise he made to me. He’s a man of his word and he kept that promise. Luckily, the dates worked out and he’s been able to be here for the laying of the first stone.”