A brief appearance by Lionel Messi descended into chaos, with the Argentinian superstar left feeling unsafe and quickly fleeing the scene as disgruntled Indian fans stormed the pitch and ripped up seats.
Messi began his tour of India at Kolkata’s Salt Lake stadium, where he was scheduled for a 45-minute visit, but his appearance lasted merely 20 minutes.
Fans were chanting, buying jerseys and wearing “I love Messi” headbands.
While in attendance, the 38-year-old unveiled a 21-metre statue that shows him holding the World Cup aloft and walked around the stadium waving to fans.
You can watch the frightening scenes in the player above.
He was expected to play a short exhibition game at the stadium, however, that never occurred.
Tickets for the event cost around 3,500 rupees ($58.32) – more than half of the average weekly income in India – however, according to Reuters some fans claimed they spent more than three times that.
And as he left the pitch sooner than expected, chaos ensued, with objects thrown, smashed and fans storming the pitch and damaging everything they could.
Frightening footage of the incident shows fans ripping nets, breaking chairs and smashing stadium facilities.
“I can’t believe there was so much mismanagement,” Eddie Lal Hmangaihzuala, who had travelled nearly 1500 km to attend, told Reuters.
“Messi left quickly, I think he felt unsafe. I hardly got a glimpse of him.”
A spokesperson for the Argentinian superstar said he fulfilled the time commitment that had been agreed.
And the embarrassing scenes led state chief minister Mamata Banerjee to apologise for the scenes that she said left her “disturbed” and “shocked”.
“I sincerely apologise to Lionel Messi, as well as to all sports lovers and his fans, for the unfortunate incident,” she said in a post on X, adding that she had ordered an investigation into the incident.
Messi was accompanied on his brief visit by his long-time Barcelona and Inter Miami teammate, Luis Suarez, and international teammate Rodrigo de Paul.
He will now head to Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi.
