Messi's Tour Of India Gets Off To Wild Start As Fans Destroy A Soccer Stadium
A riot? In a soccer stadium?! WHAAAA?!?!
Lionel Messi isn't just one of the biggest-name athletes on the planet; he's one of the biggest-name anythings on the planet. So, you can understand why throngs of people showed up for his multi-day tour of India.
And you can also understand why fans were monumentally pissed when they didn't get to see very much of him.
According to the Associated Press, the Argentinian superstar is on a quick tour through India called the "GOAT India Tour." The plan is for Messi and his longtime running mates, Luis Suárez and Rodrigo De Paul, to hit four Indian cities: Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi.
Hopefully, they get to complete this little jaunt through India because the first stop didn't exactly end well.
The tour rolled into Kolkata, and fans waited for hours to see Messi in the flesh, with over 100,000 people packing into the place.
But, of course, many didn't get that opportunity to see Messi either with their own eyes or even on the stadium's big screens.
It also didn't help that the soccer star — who's not a huge guy — walked into the stadium with a massive entourage.
However, instead of writing a strongly-worded Yelp review of "GOAT Tour India," the fans took another route to show their displeasure and began trying to tear apart the stadium.
Tell us how you really feel, guys!
Or, you know, just bash some stadium seats with a piece of rebar.
You do you.
Of course, this was not a stellar display of decorum from the fans, and the chief minister of the state of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, issued an apology.
"I am deeply disturbed and shocked by the mismanagement witnessed today at Salt Lake Stadium," Banerjee said in a social media post, adding that the state will "conduct a detailed enquiry into the incident, fix responsibility, and recommend measures to prevent such occurrences in the future."
Well… at least there's nowhere to go but up after this first stop on the tour.