The police commissioner said the Lionel Messi's Kolkata event was scheduled to last nearly two hours but was cut short to just 20 minutes after chaos erupted.

The Argentine captain reached the city in the early hours as part of the opening leg of his GOAT India Tour 2025. His arrival generated widespread excitement among supporters, many of whom gathered hours in advance despite the cold.

It’s the day after the Lionel Messi fiasco at the Salt Lake Stadium – with Mumbai hosting a seamless third leg of the GOAT Tour of India after Hyderabad last evening. The greatest irony of it all is that the Salt Lake Stadium, the largest football stadium of the country with even a truncated capacity of 65,000, lies in darkness and in ruins.

Kolkata is preparing for a moment many in the football-loving city have dreamt of for years, as Lionel Messi is set to arrive on 13 December. In the northern suburb of Lake Town, the Sree Bhumi Sporting Club has constructed what it claims is the world’s largest statue of the Argentinian icon — a 70-foot iron structure depicting Messi lifting the World Cup trophy.