Indian entrepreneur Satadru Dutta thought it would be a nice idea: a three-day tour of Lionel Messi through India. The Argentine football star had only been to India once before, in 2011, when Argentina played a friendly match against Venezuela in Calcutta. Indians would therefore, Dutta thought, be happy to pay more than 100 euros to catch a glimpse of the Inter Miami attacker.
But the GOAT tour (Greatest of all time) by Messi through the South Asian country ended in chaos on Saturday. Football fans in the Salt Lake Stadium in Calcutta, many wearing an Argentina or FC Barcelona shirt, became angry when the Argentinian left very quickly after a twenty-minute lap around the field. Moreover, the waving Messi was surrounded by a platoon of security guards and Indians celebritiesmaking him barely visible. He didn’t touch a ball.
It “Messi, Messi” chant initially only turned into a blistering flute concert, but soon hundreds of furious fans tore out their chairs and threw them onto the field. At least that many visitors climbed over the fence onto the field, where they knocked over party tents and hit the stadium with sticks. Only after the riot police took action did the stadium become quiet again.
Traveled 1,500 kilometers
Several fans expressed their anger to the press present. “I cannot believe this mismanagement,” one of them told the British newspaper The Guardian. He traveled 1,500 kilometers from Mizoram, near the Myanmar border, to attend the event. “Messi left quickly, I think he felt unsafe. I hardly saw him.”
“All kinds of officials and actors surrounded Messi, what are we here for?” another visitor told the Indian news agency ANI. “We had a ticket for 12,000 rupees (about 113 euros) but we couldn’t even see him.”
Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of the state of West Bengal, apologized to Messi shortly after the disturbances. She has also called for an investigation. “I am shocked by the mismanagement at Salt Lake Stadium today,” she wrote on X. “My sincere apologies to Messi, but also to all fans.”
Statue of 21 meters
The stadium visit should have been the start of a tour that should have taken Messi to concerts, football clinics for children and a padel tournament. Besides Calcutta, he would also visit the cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad, accompanied by his teammates Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul. It is not yet known whether Messi will complete the tour.
Organizer Dutta will not be there anyway. Shortly after the incident, he was arrested at Calcutta airport – he was already on his way to the second stop. A double blow for the entrepreneur, who brought the late Diego Maradona to Calcutta twice and in the past organized similar tours starring Pelé and Ronaldinho.
In addition, for Dutta, the unveiling of a 21-meter-high statue of Messi in the center of Calcutta on Friday did not go smoothly. Without releasing details, the organization announced that Messi could only attend virtually for safety reasons. 45 people worked for 27 days to build the statue.
The question is how happy the residents of Calcutta will still be with the meter-high steel statue after Saturday. However, Jawed Shamin, the local police boss, had a pleasant announcement on Saturday for everyone who was present at the Salt Lake Stadium: “The organization promises that the money for the tickets will be returned.”
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