Lionel Messi felt Uncomfortable During Chaotic Kolkata Tour Stop, Says Organiser
Satadru Dutta, organiser of G.O.A.T. India Tour, claimed Lionel Messi felt uncomfortable and claustrophobic during the Kolkata leg of his India visit in December 2025 due to security lapses and crowd chaos.
Dutta alleged police failed to control restricted areas, allowing people to approach Messi for selfies. He also said teammate Rodrigo De Paul was scratched in the commotion.
After the chaos surrounding Lionel Messi’s India visit in December 2025, G.O.A.T. Tour organiser Satadru Dutta has spoken publicly about the controversy for the first time. In an interview with NDTV, Dutta claimed he was unfairly blamed for the disorder during Messi’s event in Kolkata and was made a scapegoat to hide failures by the local administration and police.
Dutta explained that the event had proper planning in place, but security arrangements reportedly collapsed when several influential individuals and bureaucrats entered restricted zones at Salt Lake Stadium just to take pictures with Messi. According to him, the overcrowding made the Argentine superstar feel uncomfortable and even “claustrophobic.” He also alleged that Rodrigo De Paul was scratched when people tried to get close for selfies. The organiser added that he had warned senior police officials, including top officers, about the growing crowd but no strong action was taken.
Dutta argued that if his planning had major flaws, similar issues would have occurred in the other tour stops. However, events in Hyderabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi were completed smoothly from December 13 to 15, 2025. Dutta, who was later detained, also claimed Messi objected to his arrest while the team was preparing to leave. He now plans to file a defamation case, saying the incident damaged his reputation.