KOLKATA, Dec 14:
All India Football Federation president and BJP leader Kalyan Chaubey on Sunday claimed that the chaos and vandalism during football superstar Lionel Messi’s event at the Salt Lake Stadium here will have a wide fallout and damage Kolkata’s reputation for over 50 years.
The opening leg of Messi’s four-city ‘GOAT India Tour 2025’ in Kolkata descended into chaos on Saturday morning due to poor crowd management and security lapses, with the Argentine superstar surrounded and pushed by selfie-seeking politicians and VIPs.
As a result, Messi, accompanied by Inter Miami teammates Luis Suarez and Rodrigo de Paul, wrapped up the programme in 20 minutes and returned to his hotel before leaving for Hyderabad for the second stop of the tour later in the evening.
The curtailed event triggered unrest among sections of the crowd, with angry spectators who had spent thousands of rupees to attend the programme vandalising the stadium, which was left littered with broken chairs, damaged canopies and water bottles strewn all over the pitch.
Describing the episode as “very unfortunate” for a city long regarded as the Mecca of Indian football, Chaubey said: “When an incident like this happens, it is noticed internationally. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
