Lionel Messi sends signed jersey to Mamata Banerjee | Photo Credit: AP

Lionel Messi continues to spread his magic, but this time by sending a customised jersey all the way to West Bengal. Only recently Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor had received a glorious birthday present as FC Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi had sent a signed jersey to the 36-year-old with the initials of his name RK written on the back along with No. 8 ( the jersey number of Andres Iniesta). Now, it's the turn of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to experience the same feeling. The Bengal CM received a Barcelona club jersey with Didi and No. 10 at written at the back, along with a message, "Best wishes for my friend Didi from Lionel Messi".

West Bengal is known for its craze for football and the jersey from Messi is supposedly a gift from for successfully hosting the Under-17 World Cup in 2017 that saw India host a FIFA event for the first time in the country's history.

The jersey had reached Ms. Banerjee through Barcelona Legends last week. The legends team had arrived in Kolkata for a friendly match against Indian football giants Mohun Bagan. After the match concluded, Barcelona legends Juliano Belletti and Jari Litmanen presented the jersey to the Football Next Foundation organizers since handing it over to the CM at that point of time wasn't possible.

"They couldn't hand it over to Ms Banerjee personally, so they gave it to us. We have approached the CMO. Whenever Ms Banerjee agrees to meet us, we will hand it over to her," said the founder of the football foundation, Kaushik Moulik.

While it is rare to see top players plying their trade in Europe coming to India, Messi has, in fact, played a friendly game for Argentina against Venezuela in 2011 at the Salt Lake Stadium.

As for the on-field developments, Messi had recently scored a double for Barcelona in the club's mid-week UEFA Champions League group stage match against English side Tottenham Hotspur. Barcelona also hold the top spot in Spanish League La Liga, ahead of Real Madrid, Sevilla and Atletico Madrid.