Indian football fans have been riding an emotional high for days. The news of Lionel Messi—football’s biggest icon and the face of a generation—landing in India for a fan-centric “GOAT Tour” sounded like a once-in-a-lifetime moment. For supporters who have grown up watching him on blurry TV screens at odd hours, this was supposed to be personal. Real. Memorable.What unfolded at Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata, during the first leg of the tour was anything but that.
Kolkata is not just another stop on a map. It is the heartbeat of Indian football, a city where the sport is religion, and stadiums breathe history. Fans here didn’t hesitate to spend ₹5,000 to ₹20,000 on tickets, trusting the promise of a genuine fan experience. What they received instead felt like a cruel joke.
Messi walked into the stadium, waved briefly at the crowd, acknowledged a few stands—and that was it. No interaction. No football. No moments that fans could take home to remember. For many who paid top-tier prices, the entire “experience” lasted barely a few minutes.
A ₹20,000 ticket for a distant wave.
If that wasn’t disappointing enough, the little time Messi did spend on the field was swallowed by VIP culture. Political leaders, ministers, and officials flooded the pitch for photo opportunities, surrounding Messi so tightly that fans couldn’t even get a clear glimpse of him from the stands. The man they had come to see was reduced to a background prop for staged photographs.
Fans had expected at least something—penalty shootouts, light drills, ball touches, or even a short interaction session. None of that happened. The event felt rushed, hollow, and poorly planned, as if fan expectations were never part of the agenda.
As Messi exited the stadium just as quietly as he entered, frustration boiled over. Angry fans jumped from the stands, damaged stadium infrastructure, and clashed with authorities. The situation spiralled so quickly that even security forces appeared overwhelmed. What should have been a historic football evening turned into chaos and embarrassment.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee later addressed the incident on social media, admitting that even she couldn’t meet the football legend as he left abruptly amid the disorder. Her statement only underlined how badly the event had been managed from top to bottom.
This wasn’t Messi’s failure. It was a failure of event organisers and promoters who sold dreams but delivered disappointment. Using Messi’s GOAT status to market overpriced tickets without offering value to fans is nothing short of exploitation. Indian football supporters didn’t ask for luxury lounges or celebrity selfies—they asked for honesty.
Kolkata deserved better. Indian fans deserved better.
If global stars are invited to the country, fan trust should never be treated as disposable. Otherwise, what happened at Salt Lake Stadium will be remembered not as Messi’s GOAT Tour—but as the night fans were made ‘bakra’.
