‘Chaos at Messi’s event was anticipated’: West Bengal Guv on how Calcutta authorities made footballer’s visit ‘messy’

West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose revealed that chaos at Lionel Messi’s event at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata was anticipated in advance last night, which was conveyed to the government, along with precautionary measures.

Speaking to news agency PTI, Bose said, “To put it on record, last night itself this was anticipated based on certain information which I received from the common man and conveyed it to the government, along with precautionary measures required for crowd management.”

Also read: Chaos during Messi’s India visit: What really happened at Salt Lake Stadium & what lies ahead
International football icon Lionel Messi left the stadium within 30 minutes of his arrival as huge crowd flooded the stands. As fans were unable to catch a single glimpse of the popular star, they left the stadium after vandalising posters and throwing bottles around. The authorities have detained the main event organizer.

“Today’s incident proves that none of those steps were taken by the police,” Bose said. “We love Messi, we respect Messi. But the authorities of Calcutta had made Messi a real Messi.”

Fans attemped to break gates of the stadium, broke security protocols as they failed to catch even a single glimpse of the world’s most popular footballer during his blink-and-miss 22-minute appearance at the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday.Fans claimed that Lionel Messi was surrounded by gurads and VIPs and they did not get to witness even a single kick or penalty stroke from him.

What was scheduled to be a nearly two-hour program, including interations with prominent personalities like Shah Rukh Khan, Sourav Ganguly and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was cut short to under 30 minutes, prompting visible anger in the stands.

The frustrated fans said they were unable to catch a glimpse of Messi clearly, either in person or on the stadium’s giant screens, despite having waited since morning, and some since last night. The fans had paid heavy prices for the ticket- ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000.

Although the situation did not fully spiral out of control, with Messi being taken out earlier than scheduled and additional security deployed, the unrest cast a shadow over what was meant to be a high-profile event celebrating one of football’s biggest global icons.

West Bengal DGP Rejeev Kumar told reporters that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has taken cognisance of the incident. Calling it a “sheer mismanagement by the organising committee” he requested the fans to exercise restraint.

Mamata Banerjee apologized to the Argentine soccer star for the “mismanagement” of the event.

“I am deeply disturbed and shocked by the mismanagement witnessed today at Salt Lake Stadium,” Banerjee wrote on social media, where she also apologized to fans who had expected more after paying for tickets.

She said a committee would be constituted to “conduct a detailed enquiry into the incident, fix responsibility, and recommend measures to prevent such occurrences in the future.”

Messi’s three-day “GOAT India Tour” was to bring the World Cup winner from Kolkata to Hyderabad and then Mumbai before concluding in New Delhi on Monday. He was joined by longtime teammates Luis Suárez and Rodrigo De Paul.

Drawing parellel between chaos at Messi event in Kolkata and June 4 stampede in Bengaluru after RCB’s IPL win, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi launched a scathing attack at the opposition, highlighting the weakness of law-and-order situation in the two states.

He said, “I want to ask the Opposition why such disorder occurs at events like these in the states they govern. On 4 June 2025, a similar incident took place in Bengaluru after the IPL… We want to ask: doesn’t this indicate that the law-and-order situation there is extremely weak? Those in power consider themselves above the law… This clearly reflects a mindset among the governments and workers of the entire INDI alliance that shows contempt for governance and law and order.”