Lionel Messi’s long-awaited tour of India got off to a rocky start on Saturday, with angry fans throwing bottles and chairs onto the pitch, as well as attempting to vandalize a stadium in Calcutta, in the eastern region of the country, after many of them failed to see more than a brief glimpse of their idol.
According to the newspaper Times of Indiamany fans who paid for tickets said they had not seen Messi – neither in person nor on the stadium’s big screens – despite having waited for hours. Accompanied by friends Rodrigo de Paul and Luis Suárez, the star took a quick walk around the field greeting the public and left the stadium after around 20 minutes, frustrating people who expected him to at least hit a ball on the pitch.
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The head of the West Bengal government, Mamata Banerjee, apologized to the Argentine star for the “mismanagement” of the event. “I am deeply disturbed and shocked by the mismanagement of the event, which I witnessed today at the Salt Lake Stadium,” Banerjee wrote on social media. She also apologized to fans who expected more after paying for tickets.
Banerjee said a committee will be formed to “conduct a detailed investigation into the incident, determine responsibilities and recommend measures to prevent such occurrences from recurring in future”. The head of the event organization was detained by local police to provide clarification.
Messi’s three-day tour of India, titled the “Goat India Tour”, would take the world champion from Kolkata to Hyderabad and then Mumbai, before concluding the trip in New Delhi on Monday. The previous Saturday, Messi remotely unveiled a 21-metre-high statue in his honor in Kolkata.
