Lionel Messi’s much-anticipated visit to Kolkata just lasted 22 minutes and turned into chaos as the fans ran riot inside the Salt Lake stadium on Saturday, December 13. Messi’s second visit to the city as a part of his GOAT tour, was expected to be a red-letter day for one of the spiritual homes of football in India.
Fans were waiting in anticipation for the arrival of the World Cup winner, with fans turning up in numbers to welcome Messi to Kolkata in the early hours of Saturday. But by noon time everything had completely broken down.
About 50,000 spectators, who had swarmed into the Salt Lake stadium, with many paying in upwards of Rs. 4,000, helplessly watched the football icon hemmed in by politicians, VVIPs, heavy security and a cluster of people keener on selfies than crowd control. The gates were open at 8 am and Messi arrived at 11:30 am to a thunderous ovation from the crowd and he was flanked by his Inter Miami teammates Luis Suarez and Rodrigo de Paul.
Within minutes, according to PTI, Messi found himself hemmed in by politicians, police, VIPs and their entourages, forming a living wall that left spectators with a view of everything except the man they had come to see.
Wearing a puzzled, almost amused expression, Messi tried to make a slow lap of the ground, pausing to sign autographs for former players, but the chaos only escalated.
Over the public address system, promoter Satadru Dutta, his voice strained, repeatedly urged the crowd to step back. “Please leave him alone. Please clear the ground,” he appealed.
The pleas went largely ignored as more dignitaries crowded in, with Messi eventually all but lost in a dense cluster of security personnel and officials. Messi was finally escorted out of the stadium well before his one-hour intended stay as his team decided to cancel the event.
This would trigger the chaos, which would see the Salt Lake stadium get turned completely ransacked, with damage to property and decorations.
GANGULY WANTED MESSI TO STAY LONGER
According to a report from LiveMint, Sourav Ganguly, who was one of the Chief Guests of the event, tried to convince Messi to stay longer. Following the cancellation of the event, the organisers, West Bengal Sports Minister Aroop Biswas, West Bengal police DGP Rajeev Kumar, were seen trying to talk to Messi’s team and convince them to have him stay for longer. This is when Ganguly was heard saying,
“It would be nice if you stayed a little longer.”
Messi now heads off to Hyderabad on Saturday, where he will have a brief kickabout with Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy.
