Fariapukur and Ichapur deck up in white-blue colours to celebrate Messi’s 39th birthday

Lionel Messi turned 39 on Wednesday, and he may be playing in faraway US but his fans in Kolkata celebrated the football magician’s birthday with gusto. 

Ganpati Seva Dal in Fariapukur, Shyambazar, decorated the whole neighbourhood with Fifa memorabilia, graffiti and football motifs. Fifa returned the love, recognising it on social media as ‘Fifa Gali’ in Kolkata. In a different part of the city, 24 kilometres away in Ichapur, a suburb near Barrackpore, the little magician was celebrated with a 39-pound cake and giant flags shrouding the locality.

Shib Shankar Patra, a tea-seller, with a signed photograph from Messi. Patra has painted his house in the colours of the Argentine flag

A nearly 20kg cake, featuring Messi’s career highlights, was cut on his birthday in Ichapur

The locality was shrouded in giant Argentina flags by the local supporters of the Ichapur-Nabaganj area, some 24 kilometres away from Shyambazar

Fifa Gali, in Fariapukur saw visitors in Messi masks posing for photographs

Local kids in Fariapukur are all Messi-faced, celebrating the footballer

An Argentina fan struck a pose in front of a Messi graffiti in the Fifa Gali, Shyambazar

Local Footballers performed football skills in Fariapukur, Shyambazar

Club supporters cut cake for the footballer from Rosario, Argentina