Kolkata: Barely months after the Lionel Messi tour descended into chaos in Kolkata, another marquee football occasion witnessed uncomfortable scenes on Friday, with Brazil players left waiting during a State dinner on the eve of their historic friendly against India.
The dinner with the State leadership was part of Brazil’s itinerary but prolonged proceedings and requests for photographs and selfies from dignitaries left players waiting on the podium. Members of the India and Uruguay contingents were also left bemused, confirmed an official attending the event.
The episode was striking given the precautions Brazil had sought in a memo before their arrival. Their delegation called for better coordination and specifically requested that field-of-play access be restricted to personnel whose duties genuinely required it.
Brazil earlier had also flagged the Salt Lake Stadium pitch as a concern, including the potential risk of injuries, leading to extension restoration work.
While the organisers struggled to bring fans to buy the expensive tickets (ranging from Rs 3,500 to Rs 15,000), DH has learnt over 20,000 complimentary tickets were made available to state’s ruling party members and their relatives on the match day.
Strikingly, some of the promotional posters closer to the venue attracted attention as it showed the West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari’s photograph appearing considerably larger than those of the Brazilian and Indian footballers.
An official, however, claimed that the posters were put by one of the sponsors and not the organisers.