Barcelona footballers Ronaldinho and Deco, Manchester United's Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes and Real Madrid's Sal Gado, with the Chairman of the League, Luis Figo, arrived in Mumbai on Thursday. The legends will be visiting the Siddhivinayak temple on Friday morning, before kicking off the Indian Premier Futsal League 2017. The inaugural kick-off will see performances by Benny Dayal and Elli Abram with Tiger Shroff, who's bought a team in the league, and State Sports Minister Vinod Tawde in attendance.

Ranbir Kapoor, co-owner of Mumbai Football Club, and Abhishek Bachchan, who practice with members of Bunty Walia's All Star Football Club (ASFC) regularly, are expected to meet the footballers later in the day. “A star-studded Futsal bash is being planned at a South Mumbai nightclub. The all-nighter bash over the weekend will see many Bollywood actors and cricketers, along with other sportsmen, on the guest list,“ a source told Mirror.


Jab Varun met Ronaldinho
Varun Dhawan was surprised to bump into Ronaldinho en route to Mumbai. The actor had been in Budapest and was on his way back to the city when he discovered that he and the Brazilan star footballer were scheduled to board the same flight.

According to a source, the duo met at Dubai airport. “Ronaldinho was obliging fans with selfies and so was Varun. They struck up a conversation and the football ace asked the actor if he is famous. They later had a good laugh over this comment after Varun admitted to being an Indian actor and showed Ronaldinho the trailer of his upcoming film, Judwaa 2. Since they were on the plane together, they had time to catch up and click pictures,” adds the source.

Varun, when contacted, confirmed this, saying, “It was cool to meet Ronaldinho who is a legend. Getting to interact with him was amazing.”

Last year, in January, the self-confessed football fan was spotted at a match during the La Liga tournament in Camp Nou, Barcelona. It was the 500th game for Lionel Messi, Argentina’s football legend.

- Natasha Coutinho