Tonight Spanish giants Barcelona will tackle Mamelodi Sundowns in the inaugural Mandela Centenary Cup, scheduled to kick off at 6:15PM at the FNB Stadium.

Some might say that you can’t put a price on watching Lionel Messi live in the flesh, but you can put a price on how much it cost to get Barcelona here in the first place.

As you would have ascertained (fancy word for ‘figured out’), it cost a fair whack. Times LIVE with those details:

Mining magnate Patrice Motsepe paid Spanish powerhouses Barcelona 3-million Euros (almost R45-million) to make the one-day trip to South Africa to play against Mamelodi Sundowns at FNB Stadium on Wednesday night‚ it has emerged.

This figure was revealed by the Spanish press and they reported that it is outside the costs for the chartered plane that left Barcelona on Tuesday night with business class seating for the 21 players and the rest of the staff.

The cost of the trip to SA had been the subject of furious speculation for days and some reports suggested that Motsepe paid around R105m to convince Barcelona to come to SA.

Relax – not R105 million, just R45 million.

Not that these cheering fans at OR Tambo International Airport care much for the cost:

King Messi in the house.

It’s just a quick visit, mind you:

The Barcelona jet will sit at OR Tambo International Airport on Wednesday before taking off again for the return flight at midnight‚ with the Barca squad due back home at 9am local time on Thursday morning.

Patrice Motsepe must consider it money well spent, and he sure knows to handle his rather adeptly.

According to Business Insider SA, Messi’s net worth sits at an estimated R3,6 billion and Luis Suarez’s at R495 million. Both are dwarfed by Motsepe, who is sitting on a comfy nest egg of R25,6 billion.

And that right there is why R45 million is but a drop in the ocean.

[sources:timeslive&businsidersa]