Disappointed Lionel Messi Fan Takes Kolkata Stadium's Carpet Home To Compensate Ticket Cost - Watch
The Kolkata leg of Lionel Messi's GOAT Tour of India descended into chaos on Saturday.
The Kolkata leg of Lionel Messi's GOAT Tour of India descended into chaos on Saturday. Things took an awry turn as fans - who paid high ticket prices at Salt Lake Stadium's event - lost their cool over failing to get a glimpse of the Argentine icon. Messi was surrounded by more than 100 people, including several politicians, dignitaries, and security personnel, while on the ground. As a result, the fans failed to see the superstar properly. They thus protested against it, and the reaction soon got violent.
Messi was escorted out of the ground after staying for only 20 to 25 minutes. Dejected fans threw bottles, chairs, and tore banners. This was not it. One fan even carried the stadium's carpet on his shoulders to his home to compensate for the heavy ticket price.
"I have paid Rs 10,000 for the ticket, but couldn't even watch the face of Lionel Messi. All I could see was the face of the leaders. I am taking this carpet home to practice," said the fan when asked by a reporter in a viral video.
After seeing the ticket money went down the drain, guy is taking the carpet home to balance the loss pic.twitter.com/iJGbnLE5qg
— Political Kida (@PoliticalKida) December 13, 2025
Messi's programme in Hyderabad was in stark contrast to the mayhem in Kolkata as the second leg of the GOAT India Tour ended on a positive note thanks to thorough preparations, sound planning, and discipline.
The City of Nizams showed how to pull off an event of this magnitude after Messi's visit to the City of Joy descended into chaos due to poor crowd management and security lapses earlier on Saturday.
The celebrated Argentine footballer mesmerised the Hyderabad crowd at a nearly-packed Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium as he showed off some of the skills that made him one of the greatest ever to play the sport.
Messi arrived in the city around 5:40 PM after a chaotic opening leg of his three-day, four-city GOAT Tour 2025 in Kolkata, and he was received at the Taj Falaknuma Palace by Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
Sporting a green crew-neck half-sleeve T-shirt, black pants, and a pair of sports shoes, the World Cup-winning Argentine captain entered the stadium to a deafening cheer from the crowd.
He seemed relaxed throughout his one-hour stay at the stadium, in contrast to the anxious and stiff demeanour at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata some hours back.
(With PTI Inputs)
Lionel Messi