Messi was unhappy being touched: GOAT Tour organiser told SIT on Kolkata chaos
The GOAT Tour organiser told SIT that Messi was upset about being touched and left the Salt Lake Stadium early after feeling uncomfortable.
New Delhi: Star Argentine footballer Lionel Messi left the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata early after he got upset with a section of people at the ground who started touching him, violating all the protocols drawn by his private security guards, Satadru Dutta told the Special Investigation Team (SIT), sources said, as quoted by PTI.
Dutta, the organiser of Lionel Messi's GOAT tour in police custody, told the SIT that his personal security team had told him that, according to protocol, no one was allowed to touch or hug the footballer at any venue. However, several people around Messi at the venue tried to touch and hug him before taking pictures, Dutta told the SIT.
'Messi got upset and left Salt Lake Stadium within 20 minutes'
After Messi’s security team informed Dutta about the footballer’s discomfort while on the ground, he had appealed to those around the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner to leave him alone using a cordless microphone, but it didn’t work.
"Dutta claimed that he made multiple appeals to those around Messi using a microphone to leave the footballer alone and not touch him, but no one cared," said a police officer.
The officer further added that Messi left the stadium within 20 minutes of his arrival after getting upset, even though it was meant to be an hour-and-a-half event.
The frustrated Messi fans started throwing plastic water bottles and chairs from the gallery as they weren't able to catch a glimpse of the star footballer despite paying a hefty amount for the tickets. Several fans broke the locked stadium gates and invaded the ground. Nine people have been arrested by the police so far in connection with violence.
Most of the fans said that Messi was not visible because of a group of people who surrounded him on the field. Dutta also told investigators that he had initially made arrangements for around 150 'close-proximity' passes for those who would be on the ground with Messi.
But the number of such passes had to be increased due to pressure from influential personalities.