JAKARTA - Lionel Messi's tour of India was marred by a chaotic scene on Saturday, December 13, 2025, local time, after fans threw chairs and stormed the field during the Argentine star's brief appearance.
Messi's tour will take him from Kolkata to Hyderabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi. However, the tour did not start smoothly as his appearance was reportedly shortened to only 20 minutes due to riots.
English:
The highlight of the opening day of the tour was supposed to be the unveiling of a 70-foot-tall statue of Messi - which was reported as the largest football statue ever made.
Messi, accompanied by teammates Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul, walked briefly on the pitch and waved his hand briefly towards the stands amid loud chants of "Messi, Messi!"
However, fans soon realized that the footballer was still tightly surrounded and barely visible from most of the stadium.
Messi's appearance ended before he completed a full lap of the stadium, sparking riots.
"Only the leaders and actors surround Messi. Why are they calling us? We have tickets for 12,000 rupees (about Rp2.2 million), but we can't even see his face," a fan told the ANI news agency.
Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of the region, apologized to Messi and ordered an investigation into the incident.
"I am very disturbed and shocked by the management error that occurred today at the Salt Lake Stadium. I sincerely apologize to Lionel Messi, as well as to all sports lovers and fans, for this unfortunate incident."
"I am forming a committee of inquiry. The committee will conduct a detailed investigation into the incident, assign responsibility, and recommend measures to prevent similar incidents in the future," wrote Banerjee, who was on his way to the event when the chaos occurred, on X.
The Indian Football Federation said it was deeply concerned by the incident. They added that they were not involved in planning the event and left the responsibility to the PR agency that organized it.
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