What happened to Messi in India? Everything to know about Kolkata stadium chaotic event

Lionel Messi’s heavily promoted “GOAT Tour of India” began in disarray on Saturday, December 13 as a planned two-hour event at Salt Lake Stadium collapsed into chaos.

However, the football legend stayed barely 20 minutes before being rushed away as angry fans threw bottles and chairs.

The event was meant to be a celebration for tens of thousands of paying fans, quickly soured when Messi was engulfed by a crowd of dignitaries and officials on the pitch.

This made him nearly invisible to those in the stands, raising frustration in the fans standing over there which later boiled over into vandalism and a premature, chaotic exit.

Messi was accompanied by Inter Miami teammates Luis Suárez and Rodrigo De Paul, arriving in Kolkata in the early hours of Saturday to immense hype.

The event included the remote unveiling of a 70-ft statue of the star and a stadium event where he was to take a lap of honour and meet icons like actor Shah Rukh Khan, cricket legend Sourav Ganguly, and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

But due to this chaos, none of those stadium meetings occurred.

On the contrary, Messi's brief appearance was spent surrounded by local officials and organizers, with fans reporting they could not see him either in person or on the stadium screens.

Organizer of the event Satadru Dutta was seen repeatedly pleading for the pitch to be cleared so fans could catch a glimpse of the legend.

At last, Messi informed organizers that he wanted to leave.

The abrupt departure sparked anger in fans as they spent thousands of rupees for tickets. The disappointed fans started booing, threw bottles onto the pitch, and tore down banners.

Fans also damaged the infrastructure of the stadium as chairs were thrown in protest.

Responding to the chaotic situation, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee issued a public apology, calling the incident “deeply disturbing” and blaming “mismanagement.”

She also made an inquiry committee to investigate and fix responsibility.

She also apologised to the football legend stating, “I sincerely apologise to Lionel Messi, as well as to all sports lovers and his fans for the unfortunate incident.”

Messi is also scheduled to visit Hyderabad for an exhibition match.

But the disastrous opening in Kolkata has cast a shadow over the high-profile visit, raising questions about planning and crowd management for the remaining stops.