It was an absolute mess at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium over the arrival of football great Lionel Messi on Saturday morning. The Argentine icon is in India for a three-day GOAT tour that includes his visit to four cities. Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi are the other three venues. Messi arrived in Kolkata early Saturday and entered the Salt Lake Stadium after some rest. It turned out to be a forgettable event as it was marred by chaos due to poor crowd management and security lapses.
Within minutes of his arrival at Salt Lake Stadium, Messi was surrounded by a bevy of politicians, police officers, VIPs and their aides, forming a human blockade that ensured the paying public saw everything except Messi.
The footballer himself looked confused and bemused, gamely signing autographs for former players while attempting a slow circuit of the ground. The situation only worsened.
As things went out of control, Messi was escorted out well before his scheduled one-hour stay, leaving the stadium after spending just 22 minutes, and all hell broke loose thereafter.
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Fans threw water bottles, chairs and broke two canopies erected for Messi. Even the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s enclosure was torn apart, with attempts even made to set parts of it on fire before police intervened.
The majority of the fans returned home without even getting a glimpse of Messi. A fan revealed in an interaction with PTI that he left his wedding to witness the Argentine icon, but all he got was disappointment.
“Everybody in Kolkata knew Messi was set to arrive. I have my wedding today, I have left it to see Messi. Even after that, my expectations have not been met,” said the fan.
“Yes, we felt good about his presence. His presence is enough for me. But I hadn’t expected this bad about this event,” he concluded.