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Lionel Messi’s tour of India kicked off on a chaotic note on Saturday as fans ripped up seats and threw them on to the pitch after the Argentina and Inter Miami forward’s brief visit to the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, the ANI news agency reported.
Messi is in India as part of a tour during which he is scheduled to attend concerts, youth football clinics, a padel tournament and launch charitable initiatives at events in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.
According to reports in Indian media, the 2022 World Cup winner walked around the pitch at the stadium waving to the fans, but was closely surrounded by a large group of people and left 20 minutes after his arrival.
Video from ANI showed fans throwing ripped up stadium seats and other objects on to the field and the athletics track at the site, with several people that had climbed over a fence surrounding the playing field hurling objects.
“Only leaders and actors were surrounding Messi … Why did they call us then?” A fan at the stadium told ANI. “We have got a ticket for 12,000 rupees [£100], but we were not even able to see his face.”
The chief minister of West Bengal state, Mamata Banerjee, apologised to Messi and ordered a probe into the incident. “I am deeply disturbed and shocked by the mismanagement witnessed today at Salt Lake Stadium,” Banerjee, who was on her way to the event when chaos broke out, posted on X.
“I sincerely apologise to Lionel Messi, as well as to all sports lovers and his fans, for the unfortunate incident. I am constituting an enquiry committee … the committee will conduct a detailed enquiry into the incident, fix responsibility, and recommend measures to prevent such occurrences in the future.”
West Bengal, Kerala and Goa states have long had large football fanbases in an otherwise cricket-dominated India. Diego Maradona twice visited Kolkata and in 2017 unveiled a statue of himself holding the World Cup, in the presence of thousands of fans.
Messi, who played in a friendly match at the Salt Lake Stadium in 2011 in which Argentina defeated Venezuela 1-0, virtually unveiled a 70-foot statue of himself in Kolkata on Saturday.
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