Kolkata: If the thousands delirious supporters who remained awake throughout the night and braved rains to catch a glimpse of their `God` Lionel Messi left home dejected, there were few, the airport and immigration staff, inside the airport who made the best use of the opportunity.
The executive director of CMG Bhaswar Goswami told reporters that Messi was made to stand in the immigration deliberately for long duration.
"It`s all their handiwork. He was made to stand at the immigration for quite a long time. They all wanted to have a share of Messi," Goswami said.
"Right from the immigration official to security personnel, everybody started posing with Messi. There were many others who were inside the airport to have a glimpse of Messi," Goswami said.
He said Messi was very cool and handled it nicely sporting a broad smile.
"When he came out of the flight, many almost fell over him. There were loud shouts of Messi, Messi. The excitement was everywhere."
After leading Barcelona`s 5-0 rout with a double strike against Villareal in a La Liga match Sunday midnight, Messi and his Mascherano were among the last batch of Argentines to join the squad.
Argentines will have their first official practice under Alejandro Sabella this evening. They will take on Venezuela in their FIFA international friendly against Venezuela on September 2 before flying to Dhaka for another outing against Nigeria (September 6).
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, August 31, 2011, 11:27