The clock ticked 11.26am on Saturday when the emcee announced, “Lionel Messi has arrived.” The near-capacity Salt Lake Stadium roared, anticipating the greatest player on earth would hold court.
A wait of five minutes and Messi and his Inter Miami teammates, Rodrigo De Paul and Luis Suarez, walked out of the car at 11.31am.
But, where is Messi?
He was surrounded by a human chain, growing with every second. Security personnel, politicians, their friends and families, club officials, former footballers... everyone was trying to get a selfie with Argentina’s World Cup-winning captain. As the circle became bigger with a couple of hundred people jostling for space with Messi, the man of the moment was hardly visible from the stands.
In the Qatar World Cup, after Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia, his critics had thrown the “Where is Messi?” taunt. At the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday, helpless fans who struggled to get a glimpse of their favourite player were left asking the same. “Where is Messi? Cannot see him in the crowd,” was the mood.
Even as Satadru Dutta, the maligned organiser of Messi GOAT India Tour, was announcing, one could feel the situation was going out of
control. But the hangers-on did not stop. They were still pestering and pulling Messi for a selfie. And the circle around him was getting bigger. Now, almost 300 people were around him.
Amidst all the din, actress Subhashree Ganguly, wife of Trinamool Congress MLA Raj Chakrabarty, got her photo with the Inter Miami trio; an influential official of Diamond Harbour Football Club — TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee heads the club — got his and his family’s photo with Messi. Mohun Bagan president Debashis Dutta and secretary Srinjoy Bose, who were with the Bagan team which was playing an exhibition match against Diamond Harbour FC, presented the green and maroon jersey to the maestro.
The spectators were getting restless, and tension was palpable. Suddenly Messi, De Paul and Suraez started walking towards the waiting car. The crowd at first thought he was going towards the stands to wave, but to their surprise, Messi hopped onto the car and left. It was 11.53am. Messi, who was supposed to stay for almost two hours, left after just 22 minutes!
“It was shocking. We just could not believe it. People spent their savings to see Messi. And what did they get?” Susim Chaterjee, who was at Block C with his friend, said.
“One fan from Chennai spent ₹25000 for this Messi trip. He just saw Messi waving for a second. There was a spectator from Canning (in South 24 Parganas) who works at a shop that sells chicken. He claimed to have taken a loan of ₹10,000 from the shop owner to see his favourite Messi. He felt cheated,” Chatterjee, an IT professional, added.
Abhigyan Chanda, 21, felt the same. “There was so much anger in the stands. The moment Messi left, all hell broke loose. It was spontaneous,”
he said.
Shemot Gupta was just four months old when Messi came to Calcutta in 2011. “I am so disappointed,” was all he could muster this time.
“You cannot blame the fans for the destruction of the stadium. How did so many people enter the field of play (FOP) needs to be investigated. I was on the sidelines and from the very start it looked doomed,” someone associated with the Messi tour told The Telegraph. “I have not seen something like this in my life. Even the emcees were told to make way for the entourage of the VVIPs and the government officials,” he added.
Kaustav Sadhu of Golf Green had a ticket priced at ₹5000. “The money went down the drain. Instead of Messi, the politicians held centrestage.” Sadhu, like thousands of others in the stadium, came wearing an Argentina national team jersey. “Will never see him again,” he rued.
