Invisible riches of Port-Gentil where Messi laid first stone

A Gabon supporter blows a whistle ahead of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations group A football match between Cameroon and Guinea-Bissau at the Stade de l'Amitie Sino-Gabonaise in Libreville on January 18, 2017. / AFP PHOTO /

Stade de Port-Gentil is so new that you can smell the paint in certain areas while the legs of the chairs in the media stand were still covered in bubble wrap. You can see the adhesive on the tiles in the toilets in certain areas was recently applied.

The grass on the pitch showed it still needed time to grow, easily succumbing from being punished in two matches. The sand-like foundation underneath the grass popped up from the pressure. The precinct is still receiving some final touches, including where there is supposed to be grass. At the moment there is just sand, and a sign that says don’t walk on the grass.

It’s an ambitious statement, just like this stadium that has a built-in hotel.

Barcelona and Argentina star, Lionel Messi, laid the first stone. His dress-code for that occasion, torn pants and an unkempt appearance with his beard unshaven, caused a stir just as the $3.5-million (just over R47-million) Gabon’s government allegedly paid him to appear. The government denied making such a payment.

“The messiah of football arrived in Gabon like he was going to a zoo: dirty, unshaven and his hands in his pockets, looking for peanuts to throw to them! When you’re called Lionel Messi and you’re a multi-billionaire, you don’t have the right to present yourself to officials of a republic, even a banana one, with your hands in the pockets of a ripped, tattered pair of shorts,” the country’s opposition party, Union of the Gabonese People, said in a statement.

Messi’s appearance that day reflects this city. More than a decade ago it was named the world’s most expensive city. But it’s hard to see where those riches went to given the city’s appearance. Currently Port Gentil is the financial capital of Gabon because of oil and timber. But it looks unshaven and tattered.