Messi arrives in football-crazy Kolkata to play friendly match

Kolkata - 31 August 2011: Argentine superstar Lionel Messi arrived in Kolkata in the early morning on Wednesday but more than 1500 frenzied die-hard supporters and hordes of mediamen who stayed awake throughout the night were left heartbroken without getting a glimpse of the Argentine superstar made a hush-hush exit from the VIP gate amid high security without anybody's notice.

Messi is in Kolkata as part of an Argentina squad to play a FIFA-sanctioned international friendly with Venezuela at the city's Salt Lake stadium on Friday evening.

The football-mad city did not witness the same turnout when Diego Maradona visited about three years ago as Kolkatans then had lined up on the streets while state government officials had come to welcome him at the airport.

But the euphoria was exactly the same as the fans with many wearing the Albiceleste colours painted the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Dum Dum in white and sky blue.

source: Agencies